Thicker Than Blood
by ShadowStained
Summary: Akaguro Chiyuki could remember everything from her childhood and the life before then. It just so happened she was born into a world she had seen in anime. She knew her dear brother was already set on a dark path she couldn't follow him down. She knew that her brother had the potential to become the Hero Killer. Yet she loved him anyway.
1. A Brother and a Sister

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 1_

 _A Brother and A Sister_

 _Summary: Akaguro Chiyuki could remember everything from her birth and the life before then. It also just so happened she was born into a world she had seen in anime. She knew her brother was already set on a path she couldn't stop him from. Yet she loved him anyway._

 _Disclaimer: My character is Chiyuki, there are some other OCs that will be found in the story but I do not own My Hero Academia. This is on for a reason. You know. Fan-fiction._

* * *

The park was busy on the weekend with families and children. The playground was filled with children of all ages and sizes but there was one little girl who stood out. Chiyuki was off to the side of the park, picking at flowers with unusually deft hands. Chiyuki was four years old going on twenty-four mentally, having fully intact memories of the life she had before this one. It made for an oddly precocious child, even as far as precocious children could go.

As for the flowers, Chiyuki wasn't really supposed to be picking them from the park. But she needed flowers and for whatever reason the prices for official flower shop flowers had skyrocketed. She was not paying those overpriced prices for a bundle of flowers she could just as easily get from the park! Besides, Chiyuki smiled to herself, no one would really think much of a child playing in the flowers.

With a bundle in her arms that Chiyuki thought looked rather nice considering all things, she hurried through the park. She ignored the children on the playground, not really caring that she wasn't among them playing. At the entrance to the park she waited patiently for her big brother. She stood still and quiet, eyes darting up and down the street until she found his tall figure in the crowd.

Chiyuki took off towards her brother. She ducked around the legs of any unfortunate passerby who got in her way. She collided into her brother, stuffing the flowers into him. He lifted her up almost immediately, fitting her on his shoulders so that now she towered over most people.

"Got'em, Nii-chan!" Chiyuki beamed.

Despite her brothers manly appearance now clashing with the flowers she was starting to push into his hair, he grinned and held tight, "Good job, Chi-chan! Ready to visit Okaa-san and Otou-san?"

"Yes!"

Her brother walked with his back straight while he carried her. She tried to braid his hair with the flowers but she couldn't quite get her four year old fingers to work as well as she wanted. They passed a man who was taller than them by almost two of her and she turned to look at him with her lips in an O. Chiyuki had two years to get used to the strange new world she lived in but in the two years she had been aware of quirks, she had yet to fully get used to them.

They say reincarnation takes a minimum of five hundred years and while Chiyuki was more in the belief that her soul had just gotten launched instantly into another universe, she could understand the five hundred years thing. She hadn't learned much of the history of the world yet, and she was relatively excited to learn in school, but she did have some ideas from the world building of the story she knew.

Some time ago, Chiyuki estimating more than a few generations, there was a baby who was born that shined light. Soon after people starting to do the unthinkable and a majority of the world soon gained superhuman abilities previously only seen in comic books and movies. The world then had to go through a phase of rebuilding itself due to the new powers that had come to be known as 'quirks'.

Chiyuki had a few theories about what had happened to bring her here but regardless, she would likely never know, nor need to know. She was content to just learn to accept that quirks were now a thing that everyone had. She wasn't sure of her quirk yet but as her brother and she arrived at the graveyard, Chiyuki was reminded of her brother. He walked them, slowly to the grave that held both of their parents.

The grave was a boring headstone with an engraving that felt very impersonal. Chiyuki and her brother, after the tragedy of what happened, were never really consulted about funeral arrangements or anything. So now they had just a cold stone with the words 'Akaguro Chiyu and Nozome. Loving parents' to visit every so often.

"Hey Okaa-san. Otou-san," her brother began, setting her down proudly in front of the grave so she could start to organize the flowers she picked, "We're here to visit again. It's been two years since... the incident. Chi-chan is getting big and her hair is starting to grow out. She has your pretty face, Okaa-san. Good thing she doesn't look like me or dad."

"Nii-chan handsome." Chiyuki interrupted, patting his leg comfortingly. Chiyuki thought her brother was handsome in a rugged, rough kind of way.

Her brother laughed, "Thanks Chi-chan. Ah, it has been a little tough recently money-wise. I don't think I can afford to send Chi-chan to school until elementary school starts. But don't worry, I've been trying to teach her how to read and write. She's really smart and picks up kana way faster than I probably ever did."

"Yes. Reading is fun!" Chiyuki affirmed. With some string she tried to tie around the flowers she arranged in a not too shabby bouquet but her brother's big hands came to help her when everything started to come undone.

Her brother ruffled her wild hair, "We're doing fine. So don't worry about us. Chi-chan is safe with me. I won't let any harm come to her. No one will hurt her."

"Nii-chan!" Chiyuki whined to change the subject, "Sounds sad."

He smiled bitterly and pushed back the hair that covered her mangled ear. Luckily what killed her parents had only left minor cosmetic damage on her.

The two laid the bouquet in front of the grave and Chiyuki mentally said a few things to her parents. They had been good parents before they died and Chiyuki appreciated them. Before long Chiyuki's hand was grasped by her brother and they started to leave.

She looked up at her brother with warm eyes. Who knew that Akaguro Chizome, who would be come to be known as the Hero Killer Stain, would be such a doting older brother?

Gripping his hand a little harder Chiyuki felt the fire in her veins as she thought about what the future would hold for her precious older brother.

.

The pair lived in a ratty studio apartment. It was in a bad neighborhood so Chizome rarely let Chiyuki outside by herself. It was hard for him, Chiyuki knew. He had work that he had to do to earn money and it was hard supporting a small child. He hated leaving her alone in their apartment but he was currently working nights so that he was home with her in the day.

One morning, Chizome began teaching her how to read. He had a handful of flashcards that he showed her that had hiragana on them. Chiyuki caught on quickly and Chizome was a little surprised.

"You're picking this up really fast, Chi-chan. Okay. Maybe katakana next?" Chizome muttered to himself, grabbing for the clean pieces of paper and starting to cut out squares. Chiyuki held the hiragana cards and put down the cards for "Chi" "Yu" and "Ki" while proudly announcing she knew how to spell her name.

With a grin rapidly taking over her brothers mouth he whispered, a little shocked, "Wow, so amazing, Chi-chan!"

Chiyuki basked in the praise and the next day her brother was relatively surprised she had retained a lot of the hiragana from the day before and even some of the katakana. In a few days Chiyuki was asking for kanji but her brother decided to make flashcards for vocabulary instead. He was pretty terrible at drawing. Chiyuki recalled Okaa-san had been a good artist, having used hand drawn flashcards to help her learn speaking vocabulary.

Chizome held up a card with a cat that looked like it had a broken leg, "This is a cat, Chi-chan! It's spelled with 'Ne' and 'Ko' okay?"

Chiyuki forgave her brother for his terrible drawing skills and she took it in stride.

.

Chizome tried his hardest to give Chiyuki the healthy meals she needed but once she started eating real food as opposed to the baby food packages he could buy from the store, things got a little trickier. He didn't really know how to cook and going out to eat was too expensive for them. He had spent most of their grocery money on instant meals for him and the baby food for Chiyuki. Now he actually had to learn how to manage meals.

The neighborhood grocery store was sketchy so they walked further to the nicer grocery store. It was well lit and clean while offering deals that Chizome jumped on. He let Chiyuki carry the basket when they went together and she thought it was a little difficult when she was only barely tall enough to carry it. But it seemed to be something other children liked to do and she figured he saw other kids demanding to carry the basket, so shouldn't she like it too?

Chizome wasn't the best cook, they had learned rather quickly. He was twenty-one and should have been having fun as a college student. Well, Chiyuki doubted her brother, when he was Stain, went out and had fun.

"Ne, Chi-chan, they have discount chicken. That's something different we can try. Teriyaki chicken is good, how hard can that be to make?" Chizome said, picking up a package and squinting at it.

Chiyuki made a face, "Check the recipe book, Nii-chan."

Chizome laughed, "Alright alright."

After a few mishaps, Chizome had started to gather recipes from various places. He asked neighbors for some, sometimes he wrote them down from magazines and books. He had a nice journal going but he wasn't very good at organizing so it took him a few minutes to flip through to see if he had anything for chicken. As they stood, a voice cleared their throat behind them.

"Oh, sorry. Excuse me." Chizome, a little gruffly apologized, eyes still on his book as he gently led Chiyuki out of the way.

The woman who had excused herself shook her head, "No no. It's alright. Your little sister is very cute, by the way."

Chizome grinned, "Yes, she is!" He was a proud big brother.

Chiyuki eyed the woman who said that but she didn't look like anyone she knew.

The woman smiled down at her, "I have a son about your age. What is your name, little one?"

"Chiyuki." she answered a little cautiously.

Smiling the woman said, "A cute name for a cute little girl. Have a good day, you two!"

The woman grabbed what she needed and started to walk away. She seemed to have a second thought as she called over her shoulder, "Chicken pairs well with broccoli."

Chizome rubbed his head and seemed to take note of that. After the woman was gone he looked down at Chiyuki, "Well, I guess we find out if you like broccoli then."

"Does Nii-chan know how to cook broccoli?"

Chizome grinned, "Luckily, it's a vegetable so it can't be too hard."

They continued around the grocery store with Chizome taking the basket when it was too heavy for Chiyuki to carry. He let her wander the store and observe the different labels. When they waited to pay she pointed at the different words she could read, and calling out kana and asking what kanji were what.

"So smart, Chi-chan." Chizome praised as he asked how many yen the coins he was carrying made and she answered correctly. He had hardly taught her any math, but he had taught her enough to buy things with money.

Chiyuki felt a little bad that he would never know she was older than him.

.

Chiyuki learned to read at a pace that Chizome was both proud of and stunned by. By her fifth birthday she was already reading light novels.

"Ah, Chi-chan, I'm sorry I couldn't afford to send you to daycare or preschool. You could have learned a lot more than with me." Chizome apologized as they walked to the library for the day. It was on the way to his job which was convenient for both of them.

"It's okay, Nii-chan. The library has a lot of books." Chiyuki smiled. She was using this as a chance to try and improve her reading enough that she could learn more about the world history and quirks.

"Still. I wish I didn't have to leave you by yourself all day in the library." Chizome muttered rather crossly as they arrived. He walked her into the old building and Chiyuki led him to the section she was reading from today. She wasn't quite up to those books yet but she could still find entertainment and vocabulary in novels.

Chizome picked up one of the books and flipped through it, "Chi-chan, these are kind of boring."

"No they're not!" Chiyuki protested, "They're romance!"

Chizome sputtered, "Ah, on second thought I think you should go read in a different section. Why aren't you in the childrens section?"

"Too easy." Chiyuki dismissed, "I can't learn kanji in those books."

"Kanji already? I didn't learn that until elementary school..." Chizome looked at the book in his hands, "Ah, I'm glad you like learning so much Chi-chan. Okaa-san and Otou-san would be really proud."

Chiyuki looked down at the books and Chizome ruffled her hair, "I'm proud of you too. Really proud."

He left her alone for the day, promising to be back before the library closed. Chiyuki read through a light novel while wishing she could read something a little more advanced.

.

Chizome, for Chiyuki's fifth birthday, bought her cute hair ties and ribbons since her hair was getting a little longer. He also got a nice brush that had been on sale. Armed with these, he sat her down on the edge of his cot and moved the bathroom mirror so that she could look into the mirror as he tried to do her hair. He could do a high ponytail since he wore his hair in that. It was a little hard doing it on someone else, especially his small younger sister, but his first attempt didn't look too shabby.

"Ah, wait," Chizome said as he tried to pick out one of the small ties that attached by spinning little balls. He wrapped that around the band and grinned, "There we go, not too bad, right Chi-chan?"

"Nn!" Chiyuki agreed even though her hair was a little messy. Chizome likely thought the same thing as he tried to smooth her head down. She didn't think she looked too bad with a little white ponytail sticking up and green balls that matched her shirt.

Chizome sighed as he couldn't get her hair as neat as he'd wanted, "Well, I'll get better. This is practice for school."

Chiyuki was secretly very excited for school. But today was a different milestone for her.

"We're going to the park!" Chizome told her, very excited for her.

"Oh, to pick flowers for Otou-san and Okaa-san?" Chiyuki said.

Chizome shook his head, "No. You're going to play on the playground. I'm going to do adult things."

Chiyuki was a little confused on both ends. She had never played with other children before, nor had her brother mentioned adult things before.

"What kind of adult things?" Chiyuki asked, pouting when her brother laughed.

He pat her head, "Don't worry. It's just a lot of talking. I'll be keeping an eye on you so that you don't get hurt, too."

They walked to the nicer park shortly after that and Chizome pushed her towards the playground.

Chiyuki approached carefully, watching as children ran around wild. She took note of some of the quirks that made her a little nervous to be around. Some of these kids could accidentally kill her if she hit her wrong.

Deciding the sand box was the best bet, Chiyuki plopped herself down and ran her hands through the sand. She filtered it through and started to push the particles together into a hill. Trying to make it into a box, Chiyuki decided to make a castle. She was a little surprised when no kid came over to stomp through her creation. She was expecting some brat to come over and ruin it.

Starting on a second one, Chiyuki winced when someone plopped down next to her and pointed at her sand castle, loudly exclaiming, "Is that a house?"

"Kind of." Chiyuki said, "I guess."

The kid nodded their head. Chiyuki wasn't quite sure of their gender but they had orange hair and vibrant green eyes. Nothing about them was very obviously quirk related.

"I'mma make one too." decided the kid, trying to copy what Chiyuki was doing. The kid wasn't as dexterous as Chiyuki but their 'house' wasn't as ugly as it could have been. One of its walls was falling down but that was okay.

Chiyuki nodded slowly, "That's a nice house."

"Thanks!" the kid gave her a toothy grin. The kid wiggled their arms a bit and suddenly both sand castles were destroyed as the kids hand started to expand.

Chiyuki thought to herself, 'Yes, of course, as I decide this kid doesn't have a quirk that can harm me this happens.'

She thought she would be crushed but strong hands lifted her up and the kids mother came over to help. Chiyuki looked up and found her brother looking at the mother with an icy expression.

"I'm so sorry, Itsuka-chan is still trying to learn to control her quirk. I hope your daughter isn't hurt." the mother bowed.

Her brother's expression softened a bit, "Little sister. And no, she's not hurt. It's fine, some quirks are unpredictable."

Itsuka looked at Chiyuki and smiled again, "Sorry! Cool though, right? Big hands mean I can be a hero!"

Chizome looked at Itsuka for a moment and before he said anything, Chiyuki agreed, "Yes, your big hands are pretty cool."

"What's yours?" Itsuka asked.

Chiyuki blinked, "My what?"

"Quirk!" Itsuka beamed.

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't gotten mine yet." Chiyuki said, looking up at her brother a little nervously. He had never really mentioned quirks before to her.

Itsuka's mom looked a little concerned, "Pardon me if this is out of line but, your sister seems like she should have showed signs of a quirk by now. How old is she?"

"Five." Chizome said, "I'm sure she's just a late bloomer."

"Your parents should take her to see a doctor. Quirks almost always develop before four." the mother explained, a little awkwardly.

Alarmed, Chizome lifted Chiyuki onto his shoulders, "Ah, maybe that is a good idea. Sorry, we should be going now."

Chiyuki waved to Itsuka as the little girl waved wildly, saying, "Bye-bye, Shiro-chan!"

.

Chiyuki did not like sitting in front of the doctor as he scrutinized the x-ray of her leg. Her brother was in a chair next to hers, holding her hand tightly.

"Well," the doctor said, a little miffed, "Your sister is a little abnormal."

"How so?" Chizome almost demanded.

"Nothing serious but... her feet are different from each other. One foot has a bone that the other doesn't." the doctor explained, gesturing to the x-rays of both her feet.

In one extra her pinky toe had a little extra piece and in the other the bones looked a little more efficiently put together.

"Why does that matter?" Chizome asked.

The doctor gestured to Chiyuki, "I can't say if she'll develop a quirk. Generally the sign of some being quirkless is them having the extra bone. As Chiyuki-kun has this unusual case, she may develop a quirk or she may not. Just keep a watch on her. What were your parents quirks? And yours, for that matter?"

Chizome looked down, "Our mother had the quirk Snake, which meant she could extend her tongue great distances and she could bite on something and release poison from her teeth. Chi-chan's teeth are a little sharper than normal but it doesn't seem like she has Okaa-san's quirk. Our father had the quirk Blood Pact which allowed him to heal or hurt others by infecting them with his blood. He could heal his own wounds and anything he inflicted on himself passed over to whoever he made a pact with. My quirk is Bloodcurdle. If I ingest someones blood they are paralyzed for up to eight minutes. I do have a longer and more versatile tongue than normal, so I guess that came from Okaa-san."

The doctor was silent for a few minutes. He took down some notes and finally said, "It's possible she has a quirk that requires blood like you and your father. Her teeth suggest she may be developing a quirk. Chiyuki-kun, could you please open your mouth wide?"

Chiyuki did as asked and the doctor used a popsicle stick to poke around her mouth. When he was done he disposed of it in the trash and he said, "I think she'll be a special case, a late bloomer you could say. Perhaps when her baby teeth start to fall out and her adult teeth come she will start to show signs of something. Due to the nature of your quirk, I'm going to ask you don't try feeding her blood to see what happens. Let her develop naturally and if something doesn't happen by the time her adult teeth are in, I can do tests based on that idea."

Her brother let out a sigh that only Chiyuki heard.

"Alright, thank you very much, sensei." her brother bowed.

When they got home her brother snuggled into their kotatsu and she cozied up to his side. He leaned back against the bottom of the couch and he ran his hands through her hair.

"Sorry, Chi-chan. Nii-san isn't sure how to help you." Chizome murmured rather sadly.

"It'll be okay, Nii-san." Chiyuki promised.

.

Elementary school was a big change for Chiyuki. Her brother did her hair in two pigtails that day and he had been determined to make those pigtails perfect. She was on the younger side of the year, having a February birthday that put her at five years old only two months before school began. Her uniform was a cornflower blue and she wore a bright yellow hat to school. Her brother walked with her the first few days since he had put her in the nicer school that was a little further.

The first day, she hugged his legs as the teachers greeted them outside.

"Hello, who might this be?" a woman with lime green hair pulled into a bun asked, crouching down to be at Chiyuki's level.

Her brother let her answer and Chiyuki mumbled, "Akaguro Chiyuki."

"Well Chiyuki-chan, I'm your teacher. You can call me Konoko-sensei." the woman said softly.

Chiyuki gave a last cursory glance to her brother before walking, slowly, towards Konoko. He smiled like a proud parent as Chiyuki held the straps on her bag tightly and entered the school.

Konoko laughed, "She must think highly of you, big brother."

"Yeah well..." Chizome grumbled. Konoko laughed and told him Chiyuki would have a wonderful first day.

And it was a wonderful first day for Chiyuki.

She discovered the girl from her first visit to the park was in her class.

"Oh, Shiro-chan!" Itsuka greeted, "Do you remember me?"

"Yes, you're Itsuka-san." Chiyuki said slowly, "My name is Chiyuki, though, not Shiro."

"A nickname, then! You can call me a nickname too. We can be friends!" Itsuka decided and Chiyuki, a smile stretching across her lips, agreed.

"Nn, okay, Itsu-chan."

.

Chiyuki quickly discovered not having a quirk made her a bit of an outsider. Itsuka rarely enlarged her hands in school but sometimes they played games for quirk counseling time and Itsuka was allowed to use her hands then. She was good at the sports, especially baseball, since her hands could be so big. While Chiyuki didn't mind not having a quirk as the teachers didn't really bother her about it, it was a little disappointing when everyone in the class did something cool.

"Don'tcha worry," Itsuka told her one day during lunch, "You'll have the best quirk ever since you have to wait so long for it!"

"I sure hope so." Chiyuki agreed.

One of the boys listening sneered, "Red Eyes doesn't need a quirk, since her eyes are scary she can be a villain!"

Itsuka pushed her bento away and slammed a fist a little bigger than normal on the table, "Oi, what'd you say to my friend?"

"I said, Red Eyes don't need a quirk with her eyes!" the boy repeated, a little louder this time.

Konoko, who had a quirk that allowed her to sense the emotions in the room, hurried over to defuse the situation.

"Her eyes are pretty! She's so cute, I bet you just like her!" Itsuka returned, almost hollering.

The boy yelled, "Ew no way! She's ugly like her brother!"

Itsuka jumped when Chiyuki, who usually didn't care about the pettiness of the other children, slammed her fist on the table, "What'd you say about Nii-san?!"

"He's ugly like-" the boy hadn't even finished before Chiyuki was on the table, a fist full of his hair, and slamming his face into his bento.

Watching her friend with starry eyes, Itsuka blew a raspberry at the boys friends who were all very stunned.

Konoko grabbed Chiyuki by the back of her shirt and lifted her. The boy had already removed his face from his bento, tears already streaming down his face. He wasn't hurt, really, Chiyuki wasn't angry enough to actually hurt the kid. But the rice on his face probably felt humiliating. Konoko carried Chiyuki to the staff room where she dropped her in a chair and pinched her nose. She called for the principal and explained what had happened while Chiyuki watched with knowing eyes.

They called her guardian, her brother, who arrived about half an hour later still in his work clothes. That would have been fine but they had also called the boy's mother to come in. The two guardians and two children sat opposite of each other while Konoko and the principal sat as mediators.

"What happened to my poor Gensuto-kun?" the woman demanded. The boy, Gensuto, had yet to wipe the rice off his face.

Konoko raised a passive hand, "Gensuto-kun was insulting Chiyuki-chan until she responded by forcefully pushing his head into his bento."

The mother gasped but her eyes skimmed over Chiyuki and Chizome and she sniffed, "I expect a full apology, and an explanation as to why this child's parents couldn't even come to make that apology!"

Konoko went to answer but Chizome snorted. He leaned forward and said to the woman, eyes not leaving hers, "I'm sure if they were alive, our mother would be here. But as it is, if you want an apology, I don't think a headstone will make a very compelling one."

More insulted than anything else, the mother looked at the principal and Konoko as if they would say something in her favor.

The principal cleared his throat, "I think a mutual apology from both students is the best in this situation, Megane-san. Gensuto-kun did instigate."

Chiyuki looked straight as Gensuto and said, "I apologize for shoving your face into your bento, Megane-kun."

The room was quiet for a moment after her formal, and quick, apology.

Gensuto sniffed for a moment, looking a lot like his mother, before he mumbled, "I'm sorry too."

"What are you sorry for, kid?" Chizome question sternly before anyone else in the room could react to his apology. Gensuto's mother looked affonted, and went to open her mouth but her son spoke first.

"Telling Akaguro-chan she's ugly." Gensuto said, straightening his back a little bit.

Chiyuki looked up, "And?"

Gensuto looked away, muttering, "And, I guess your brother is kind of cool."

Chizome looked a bit miffed and Chiyuki nodded her head, "Please don't insult Nii-san again." But the way she said it, a bit coldly, suggested Gensuto would not be saying it again.

While Gensuto's mother didn't look very pacified, the principal had decided that since the children had made a compelling peace, the meeting was over and the punishments would be light. Both students were given extra homework as punishment, but they would be released early since the school day was nearly over.

As they were leaving, Chizome ruffled Chiyuki's head, "I'm glad you stuck up for yourself, Chi-chan. Try not to get in trouble when you do it, though."

Chiyuki nodded and both were visibly annoyed as they heard Gensuto's mother complaining into her cellphone as she pulled Gensuto by the hand out of the school, "-can you believe they made my sweet Gensuto-kun apologize to that trashy little girl? Honestly, she and her brother look like they came out of a dumpster! Not even the older brother seemed to know how to apologize. But what do you expect when dealing with orphans, ha!"

Chiyuki wanted to go after them, even Chizome was clenching his fists. But he also held them both back.

He knelt down, calming his breath as he huffed, "Sometimes, there will be people like that. You shouldn't use violence over something small and petty but I don't blame you. You're learning. I'm still learning too. We'll learn together, won't we, Chi-chan?"

"Nn! We will!" Chiyuki agreed, smiling wide. Somehow, she took that as a sign that her brother was becoming a better person too.

.

The first year of school was very easy for Chiyuki and her teacher was a little stumped about what to do with her. She soaked up math and reading like a sponge. Not to mention her interest in history meant she wasn't very satisfied by the dumb version of things they gave kids.

Chiyuki, as she walked home with Itsuka, complained, "I doubt they're telling us everything, Itsu-chan."

"Why would they lie, Shiro-chan? Being nice always helps, right?" Itsuka replied. Chiyuki almost replied, asking her how naive she was, when she realized that Itsuka wasn't naive. She was young. Chiyuki had nearly forgotten her friend was a child.

"Yeah. Being nice always helps." Chiyuki agreed.

But she wasn't settled on the matter by the time she got home. She tossed her hat and bag in their usual spot and she crawled onto her brother who was trying to nap on the couch.

He grunted and opened an eye as she started to complain, "Nii-san, they're teaching history wrong! They make everything seem so happy and nice but it's not!"

Chizome wrapped his arms around Chiyuki and she curled in next to him on the couch. He pat her head nicely, "What's the matter, Chi-chan? You're waking up your poor tired nii-san."

Chiyuki pouted, "Sorry, Nii-san. I'm just mad. Why are they teaching us things so dumb?"

"Ah, I think I know what you're trying to say." Chizome groaned as he pretended to roll onto Chiyuki. She giggled and Chizome spoke as she tried to get out from under him, "I know you're super smart, Chi-chan, but the other kids aren't. They aren't mature enough to understand that sometimes, good people do bad things."

"The world isn't black and white." Chiyuki said and Chizome groaned again, louder.

He rolled off her and looked at her, a serious look in his eyes, "Ah, you're growing up too fast Chi-chan. Stop being so smart and mature."

.

Chiyuki finished her first year with high grades and she turned six. Chizome was waiting for the day Chiyuki lost her first tooth but it had yet to come and he was a little impatient about the whole thing. He wanted to see if her quirk would develop or if they had to go bother the doctor some more.

"I'll lose a tooth eventually." Chiyuki said to him, wiggling a tooth with her finger, "Swee? Dis whuns woose!"

Chizome nodded, "Okay. Make sure you let me know if anything weird happens."

"Mmkay." Chiyuki agreed, taking the bento her brother had carefully made for her. His newest thing was realizing the mothers of her classmates made them cute bentos with characters and animals made of food. His cooking had improved a bit but his presentation was lacking as he had never considered this.

"I made you something special, today! Don't look until lunch though." Chizome said with an excited grin.

Chiyuki smiled, "I'm looking forward to it, Nii-san. I'll see you tonight." She gave him a hug, slipped on her shoes at the door, and called "I'm off!" as she started her walk to school. She hurried through her neighborhood and waited for Itsuka outside her house since it was close to the school. Itsuka came running out, carrying a bento wrapped in green cloth that matched her eyes.

"Ready for another good day?" Itsuka asked.

"Of course!" Chiyuki beamed.

The day did not go as planned, though.

At lunch Chiyuki opened her bento, pleased to see her brother had tried his hardest to make her bento cute. Itsuka leaned over, popping a hotdog cut to look like an octopus into her mouth, "Oooh."

"Nii-san made this special, this morning." Chiyuki said, smiling. There were two rice balls that looked like misshapen pandas and some baby carrots that were potentially intended to be rocket ships? The leftover chicken had cat faces drawn on in sauce.

Chiyuki lifted the first rice ball panda and nibbled on it happily as she observed the playground. She frowned though as she watched two larger boys drag a small one behind the bushes. Itsuka noticed too.

"We should tell sensei." Itsuka murmured.

"You do that." Chiyuki told her, handing her the bento her brother had carefully made her, "Keep this safe too. I'm gonna go try and stall while you get sensei."

"Okay! Roger that!" Itsuka said, hurrying towards the classroom with both bentos in hand. Chiyuki took a deep breath and ran towards the bushes. She crept through them slowly and peeked out to see Gensuto cower as he held his bento out to the two bullies. They took it happily, laughing at the anime character his mom had made the bento look like.

Chiyuki stepped out of the bush, "His mom made him that bento with love, so give it back!"

The two older boys looked at her slowly, then laughed.

"Hey, this pipsqueak thinks she can tell us what to do."

The boy closer to Gensuto put an arm around his shoulder and squeezed, "What'd we say about letting someone know? You wanna get the snot beat out of you again, kid?"

Chiyuki had miscalculated and thought the bullies were closer to their age. It was rude for two fifth years to gang up on a second year though.

Pointing at them, Chiyuki repeated, "Give him back his bento!"

"Or what? You'll make us?" the boy holding the bento laughed.

Chiyuki frowned. Her brother had never told her not to fight bullies, he just said use violence only when called for. Chiyuki decided these bullies deserved some kind of butt whooping before the teacher saved them.

She charged forward, kneeing into the balls of the boy holding the bento. He cried out, dropping to his knees. Chiyuki tugged the bento out of his hands easily as he grabbed at where she had hit. Chiyuki turned around, growling at the other boy.

Then his fist his her jaw and Chiyuki saw stars for a moment before she hit the ground, the bento cradled in her chest as she tried not to spill any of it.

"Akaguro-chan!" Gensuto yelped before covering his mouth, hoping no one would have heard him.

Chiyuki set the bento down next to her as she rolled onto her hands and knees to retch for a moment. She spit up a tooth and a splotch of blood.

"Ah, there's the tooth." Chiyuki muttered as her tongue felt the area her wiggly tooth had been, just that morning. It was a bottom front one, so no wonder it had gotten knocked out from that hit. She picked up her tooth and slipped it into her pocket.

The world tilted for a second and Chiyuki spit out a mouthful of blood this time. She looked at the puddle, thoroughly confused. A tooth shouldn't be causing this much blood, should it?

She turned to look at the boys and even the bullies looked very cowardly in that moment. Gensuto was grasping his hands together tightly, as if he was trying to hold himself together with that motion.

"I'm fineee." Chiyuki slurred, looking quizzically at herself when she heard the slur. She held up the bento she had gotten back, "Megane-sannn your bentooo."

The teacher arrived as Chiyuki lost a hold on herself and put the bento down harshly and collapsed right next to it.

.

Chizome was just getting into work after spending his lunch break outside preaching about his ideology on the revival of heroes. He had wanted to spend more time preaching but he had to work as hard as he could to support himself and Chiyuki. He figured if it weren't for Chiyuki he would have all the time in the world to spread his ideas. But he didn't resent her for taking his time. He loved his little sister very much.

"Akaguro-kun," his boss called from the office, "Your sister's school called."

"Ah, did she get in a fight again?" one of his coworkers asked.

The boss shook his head, "School says its a medical emergency. You should go pick her up."

Chizome was grabbing his things before the boss had even finished. As he was out the door the boss called, "Don't worry about today! It won't count against you!"

The school was twenty minutes walking distance away but he made it there in ten after sprinting the entire time. When he made it to the school he hurried to the infirmary where the nurse was standing with a wobbly Chiyuki.

"Gurgle." the nurse told her, "Good. Spit it into the sink."

Chiyuki spit something into the sink and turned to look at her brother. She gave him a wide smile and pointed to her mouth where one of her bottom front teeth was missing.

Chizome grabbed the door as he sighed in relief, muttering, "Medical emergency, huh."

The nurse gave him a strained smile, "Chiyuki-chan gave us a scare. The principal will probably tell you what happened but I'll keep Chiyuki-chan here while you go speak with him."

"Ah." Chizome nodded and he smiled at Chiyuki, "Don't worry, Chi-chan. I'll be right back and we can celebrate about you losing your first tooth."

He was directed to the principal's office where the man had him take a seat.

"Akaguro-san, thank you for coming. I'm sorry about the scare the call must have given you, Chiyuki-chan was unconscious and bleeding so we were thinking the worst. We didn't know it was a tooth until she woke up and told the nurse about her tooth." the principal apologized.

"No, I'm just glad she's alright." Chizome admitted, "Any false call is fine if it's about her health."

"Yes, I'm glad she's alright too. There is the matter of the incident that led to her tooth being knocked out." the princpial said, slowly.

Chizome narrowed his eyes, "Knocked out? It didn't just, fall out like teeth are supposed to?"

The principal sighed, "According to Chiyuki-chan's friend, they saw a classmate getting dragged away by two older students. Chiyuki-chan was supposed to distract the students while her friend retrieved a teacher but the students upset her and she hit one of the boys. The other student hit her, and being older he hit her rather hard. She looked like she was coughing up blood and gave the students such a scare, I doubt the two will hit anyone again for a long time. The nurse suspects she blacked out from the sudden unexpected injury, the tooth, and seeing so much blood."

Chizome nodded as he took in the story. Then he said, "Will there be any kinds of punishment?"

"The boys will be dealt with sternly, as they were bullying multiple students. Chiyuki-chan will be asked to write lines but for the most part, she's being regarded as a hero by the other students." the principal explained.

Satisfied, Chizome stood, "Can I take Chi-chan home?"

"Of course."

.

Chizome carried Chiyuki home, listening attentively as she retold the story of everything that had happened.

"-And then, they made fun of his bento. And I was so angry because even though Megane-san's mom is mean, she probably put a lot of love into that bento. Then those boys were going to eat it! I was so mad, but I was supposed to distract so I started by talking. But they just made me angrier, and I thought that I'd give them what they deserved. Since they pick on everyone and hurt everyone, I thought I should give them a taste of their own medicine!" Chiyuki explained energetically, swinging her legs as she munched on her bento that Itsuka had returned to her, unharmed.

"And did you?" Chizome asked, a little proud his sister had stood up for a boy who she had previously had an issue with. She was on the right track to knowing how to be a hero, he thought.

Chiyuki swallowed the last of the panda rice balls, "Well, one of them. I kneed him in the boy bits. Then-"

Her brother burst out laughing and Chiyuki paused. She pulled on his ponytail, "What, what? What's so funny?"

Apparently his laughter had brought a tear to his eye because he wiped his eyes with his sleeve, "The way you put that, 'boy bits', is a funny way to say that."

"Well, I think it's a good way to put it." Chiyuki defended.

"No, it is a good way to put it. Keep going, then." Chizome said, still snorting as he thought about his sister charging forward and nailing a bigger kid in his 'boy bits' as she put it.

Chiyuki continued, "Anyway, I went to turn around and be like, 'Look, I got your bento!' but then the other bully hit me. I kept the bento safe as I fell though and then I rolled over and spit out some blood and my tooth. Then some more blood. I wanted to give back the bento but I wasn't able to talk right and then I fell over."

Humming as he got the keys to their apartment ready, Chizome murmured, "I'm proud of you, even though you aren't supposed to use violence in school. I'm glad you stood up for someone weaker than you. A good hero sacrifices their own self to save someone else, but I'd rather keep my cute little Chi-chan in one piece. Okay? You know what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I understand, Nii-san." Chiyuki bowed her head and breathed into her brothers hair.

"Good, now, since you lost your first tooth, let's have some ice cream to celebrate!"

Chiyuki yelled in glee, she liked ice cream.

.

The next few days Chiyuki started to feel funny. At first she didn't notice as she felt more and more fatigued after doing things. But only a few days later Chiyuki was exhausted after a day of school and promptly fell into her shared bed with her brother and went to sleep. She only murmured things back at him when he tried to rouse her for food and for a bath.

The next morning, Chiyuki didn't have the strength to stand. She could barely sit up. When she expressed this to her brother, he took her seriously. The stressed look on her face assured him she wasn't just trying to get out of school like some kids did.

His heart beating fast he picked her up and hurried out the door with her still clutching her stuffed bunny, Usa-kun. He ran all the way to Hosu General Hospital where they admitted her and began running tests. She got a room to stay in with a few other beds occupied. Chizome drew the curtain closed around them as he held her hand, running his thumb over her surprisingly cold knuckles.

"Nii-san." Chiyuki said.

"It'll be okay Chi-chan. You're gonna be fine." Chizome whispered, kissing her hand.

"I'm scared, Nii-san." Chiyuki sniffled, tears forming in her eyes, "I'm so scared."

"It's going to be fine, Chi-chan. I promise. I will never let any harm come to you." Chizome promised her. It almost physically pained him as from her eyes dripped a few tears.

They caught pink in the light.

Chizome watched the tear dribble to her chin then disappear as she gulped. Another tear followed its path, this one a bit more pink. Then the next did the same. Then the next.

"Chi-chan, do you remember Otou-san crying?" Chizome asked quietly.

Chiyuki thought for a moment, "Yes. Only once."

"Good memory, Chi-chan. Do you remember why Otou-san never cried? It wasn't because he was supposed to be a big, scary daddy." Chizome explained patiently.

"Um." Chiyuki hummed for a couple seconds, "I think... did Otou-san have reddish pink tears?"

"I think you might be finding your quirk soon, Chi-chan." Chizome said, "Don't wipe your tears. They might scare you."

Chiyuki did anyway and found a streak of watered red on her trembling white hand.

.

Chizome didn't want to leave that night but the hospital kicked him out of the room. They offered him a blanket and pillow for the waiting room but, rather defeated, he said he would go home and get some of Chiyuki's books for him to read to her the next day. The hospital promised him the test results would be back soon and if anything happened they would send someone for him since they didn't own a phone.

Shuffling into the dark apartment, that night Chizome had a hard time sleeping. He was used to a warm, small body curled into his side, snoring very lightly. Now with the futon to himself it was lonely and cold. It was too quiet without her tiny breaths. He even missed how sometimes when she dreamed, she kicked her feet into him. Morning didn't come soon enough.

Chizome made a quick breakfast as he grabbed some of Chiyuki's favorite books the library had donated to her. He stopped by his workplace to explain Chiyuki was in the hospital and he would be at her side until she was better. His boss simply told him not to worry and to go. His coworkers had whispered words of prayer after Chizome explained what had happened and why he was so worried.

Arriving at the hospital he made a beeline for her room and one of the nurses stopped him before he entered. His heart almost stopped as the nurse told him, "She's been moved to a private room."

"Why?" Chizome whispered.

The nurse led him to the room where he found a doctor adjusting multiple bags and machines that were attached to his sister. Her eyes were closed and her skin was so pale she looked like she was seconds from death.

"Sensei, what did the tests say?" Chizome demanded as he put the books on a bedside table and grabbed the small hand that didn't have something attached to her finger.

The doctor stopped scribbling on his clipboard, "The tests were inconclusive. All night she kept worsening and we put her on as many IV drips as she can handle. For some reason her body isn't keeping and transporting nutrients. We're doing more blood work but so far it seems like her blood is thinning."

Chizome dropped his head so he could look at Chiyuki's face, "Will she wake up today?"

"Maybe. As far as tests can say, her body is working fine aside from what I just mentioned. Because her body isn't transporting things well, she's malnourished and has no energy." the doctor explained.

He left and Chizome grabbed his sisters hand. He didn't let go or leave until hours later when the hospital once again kicked him out. The entire time she hardly stirred.

.

The next day Chizome was back, but the room was empty.

The nurse in the station explained, "They needed to do an emergency blood transfusion."

Chizome thought his heart stopped, "What?!"

"Her blood was thinning so badly the rest of her body was starting to slow down. She should be back soon." the nurse said.

"Do you need any of my blood for her?" Chizome asked, looking at his arm as he wondered how much blood she needed and how much he could give.

The nurse looked up, scrutinizing him, "What blood type are you?"

"B" he answered, frowning when the nurse shook her head.

"Your sister is O, O negative in fact." the nurse said.

Chizome blinked slowly. Then he shook his head, "No, that can't be right."

"I'm sorry?" the nurse asked.

Chizome pulled out the paperwork from her last doctors visit. He held it to show the nurse and pointed to where it said 'Akaguro Chiyuki' and 'Blood Type: B Positive'.

The nurse grabbed the paper, skimming it with her face slowly turning pale, "This all can't be right. I'm going to bring this to the doctor immediately."

She rushed off and Chizome didn't even hesitate in following. A few nurses looked like they would challenge him when he followed her right into the surgical ward but his aura kept them back as he followed the nurse.

She stopped outside a set of doors and the pair waited in silence until the doors opened and a bed was wheeled out. Chiyuki, flushed with color and looking healthy again was pushed out with a dumbfounded doctor following. The nurse handed him the paper and the doctor skimmed it.

"I need a drink after this," the doctor said, rubbing his temple before looking at Chizome, "You. Your parents, bloodtypes."

"Uh, Okaa-san was B and Otou-san AB." Chizome answered after a second of thinking. The doctor's face darkened.

"Akaguro-san, whatever is happening to your sister is likely quirk related. I cannot fathom any other possibility." the doctor pulled at his hair in frustration, "Her blood type, before our eyes, was changing. She went in O negative and rotated through all the blood types multiple times."

"That's impossible!" the nurse gasped.

The doctor nodded, whispering, "I know."

Before they could continue, Chiyuki roused and opened her eyes. She took a moment to blink and get used to the light before she looked over at her brother and asked, "Nii-san?"

.

The hospital was in an uproar trying to figure out what was going on with Akaguro Chiyuki. As all the doctors spoke in passing, Chizome kept Chiyuki in her room. He read her books to her even though her strength was almost fully back now. The only time Chizome left the room was to get Chiyuki a drink whenever she asked.

The next day things were much of the same with Chiyuki still feeling fine. The hospital was almost ready to let her go when Chiyuki started to feeling an itch in her veins. She bit at the cup of water and her brother watched in concern as she drank a few cups of water and wasn't satisfied. Chizome mentioned this to the doctor and they watched her carefully. She started to ask for more food and she continued to chew on her cups and utensils.

The next day, things were worse. She was cold all day and her strength was turning to fatigue again. Tests showed her blood was once again starting to thin and cycle different blood types. The entire time Chiyuki drank and ate and drank and ate but the nutrients just weren't getting through. She was starting to weaken again.

Chizome was sitting with her that night, the hospital finally letting him stay after realizing this case wasn't going anywhere soon. He was letting Chiyuki play with his hand as he dozed off. He didn't even notice when Chiyuki had a sudden burst of energy where she could almost get out of bed.

He definitely noticed when sharp baby teeth were suddenly piercing the flesh in his hand.

Chizome jolted but didn't pull his hand back as his sister nibbled on his hand. He was used to pain from training and his sister teething on him wasn't new. She had teethed a bit on him when she was just a baby and their mother let him hold her. Although now she had teeth. Tiny sharp teeth.

"Nii-san," she whispered, retracting her red mouth from his hand, "I'm sorry but, I was just so thirsty... I'm still so thirsty but..."

With a weak smile Chizome joked, "It's fine, but I might start calling you a little vampire, Chi-chan. Since I can still move I guess you don't have my quirk."

He stilled and looked from his hand to his sister.

Chizome finally said, "Your doctor said not to feed you blood to find your quirk but, ironically, I think your quirk calls for it."

"Heh?" Chiyuki asked as Chizome offered her his bleeding hand.

She looked at it a bit strangely but when he made a licking gesture, she did so. She trusted her brother after all.

"Do you feel any stronger when you do this?" Chizome questioned.

Chiyuki nodded, "Nii-san, am I really a vampire?"

Chizome laughed, "Looks like you just need some blood to survive, like them."

Chiyuki was content to lick at her brother's wound, despite how weird she thought it was. She did feel stronger every time she swallowed. She didn't even mind the irony taste. Even her hunger started to go away.

After about half an hour of silence her brother suddenly said, "How am I going to explain this to your doctor, Chi-chan?"

.

A month later, Chiyuki was back in school. Despite all her time spent out, her teacher and principal figured she would catch up very quickly. She had been advanced anyway, this had just been a medical emergency break and they decided they could be lenient for that. Chizome had to give her updated health card to the nurse so he read over it as they walked to school.

 _Name: Akaguro Chiyuki_

 _ **Age** : Seven_

 _ **Birthdate** : February 4th_

 _ **Eye Color** : Red_

 _ **Hair Color** : White_

 _ **Skin Tone** : Caucasian, Tone 1_

 _ **Blood Type** : REDACTED_

 _ **Allergies** : None_

 _ **Quirk** : Blood Thirst_

 _ **Quirk Details** : Unknown_

 _ **Special Needs** : Requires blood supplemental drinks._

 _ **Guardian Notes** : Will be sending with a white thermos with her name. This contains the blood. It's sixteen ounces of blood that she needs to drink. She's a responsible girl so just let her handle it._

As the nurse read the notes she looked at Chizome with both of her eyebrows raised.

He shrugged, "We're not sure what her quirk does yet, but we figured out how to stop it from killing her."

"Well, quirks always have their drawbacks." the nurse conceded. Although she did look at little awkward as she filed the health card.

"I suspect this one is going to be a double edged sword in every way possible." Chizome added, watching the nurse carefully.

She turned to look out the window where Chiyuki and Itsuka were being approached by Gensuto. Chizome followed her gaze with his eyes.

"She's a good girl. I hope this quirk doesn't change anything." the nurse said.

Scoffing, Chizome replied, "With a quirk like Blood Thirst, things will probably change in the future when we know what else it does."

The nurse hummed.

Outside, Chiyuki and Itsuka may have made a potential friend.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hello! Welcome to my attempt at a Reincarnation OC in Boku no Hero! I haven't been in this archive before, but I'm really excited for this idea! Reincarnation fics in the Naruto archive are my weak spot. Most chapters probably won't be this long, but I'm very excited to write Stain's relationship with Chiyuki!**

 **Normally, I put titles in the middle, but for whatever reason fanfiction was not letting me center the title and information at the top. Sorry!**

 ** _Fun Fact_ : Originally, the story was going to start at her birth but I thought it would be better to give the parents in flashbacks and instead focus on what everyone cares about: Chizome and Chiyuki's relationship.**

 **Please let me know what you think so far in the reviews!**


	2. The Brother Watches

_**Thicker than Blood**_

 _Chapter 2_

 _The Brother Watches_

* * *

On the day she returned to school, Chiyuki didn't say anything about the details of her hospital stay. Everyone asked why she had been gone, and everyone clearly was curious when she said she was in the hospital, but Chiyuki was rather tight lipped. She didn't even tell her friend, Itsuka, about it. She wouldn't tell anyone about her quirk, not yet. Not until she knew if anything else would change.

At lunch, Chiyuki caught sight of her brother in the nurses office. She wanted to wave at him but he was clearly talking with the nurse about her updated health card. Instead she and Itsuka sat down to eat their bentos together. Chizome had worked hard that morning to give her a special bento for her first day back. He tried to make little cats out of the rice balls today, and he went for the octodogs that were popular. The broccoli was set up to look like trees and he had decorated them with colorful little dots. Maybe those were lights? Or birds? Regardless, it was a calming sight that almost cheered Chiyuki up when she had to sip at her thermos.

"Shiro-chan, look who's coming." Itsuka whispered, nudging her friend. Chiyuki screwed the top back on the thermos and looked up. She saw Gensuto walking towards them rather meaningfully. He had his bento in his hands and while his face conveyed he was nervous, his body seemed to have some kind of confidence.

Gensuto stopped a few meters in front of the girls and asked, quickly and a little loudly, "Can I eat lunch with you?"

Itsuka blinked and looked at Chiyuki. When neither said anything Gensuto looked a little put off but Chiyuki shrugged after a moment, saying, "Sure."

Gensuto sat next to Chiyuki rather stiffly and unwrapped his bento. Chiyuki and Itsuka both watched attentively and Gensuto's face turned a little pink as he unveiled his lunch. His bento, a nicer more expensive box that was a little bigger than Chiyuki's ordinary and cheap bento. His was also layered into three parts while Chiyuki had only the one section.

"Ohh, Suto-kun, that's a nice bento." Itsuka said and Chiyuki nodded in a quiet amazement. His mother clearly had a talent for decorating bento.

He looked down at the well crafted anime character in the top section and his face was fire red after Itsuka's nickame, "Thank you. My Onee-san made it for me."

Chiyuki thought on that for a second. She was a little glad she didn't have to compliment his mother, since his mother had been a bitch. But his sister making his bento made Chiyuki only a little angrier when she thought back to those bullies. His older sister made that bento for him, just like how her older brother made her bento for her! Chiyuki was almost tempted to go back and start another fight with them. Almost.

"That's cool! I wish I had an older brother or sister." Itsuka mentioned, taking Chiyuki's attention away from her thoughts, "Then they could teach me cool things!"

"Nii-san taught me how to read." Chiyuki replied, smiling proudly. It was relaxing to talk with Itsuka, they didn't have any serious conversations yet. Of course some conversations were very fun because Itsuka, as an actual child, had a great imagination. Turning to look at Gensuto, she wondered if he was trying to start a friendship here. He was a bit of a loner, and he seemed to have lost the attitude he had when they first started school.

Gensuto noticed Chiyuki looking at him and he swallowed his rice quickly.

"Oh, that's right. You're good at reading, Akaguro-chan." Gensuto said, a little awkwardly. It was fine if conversation was stilted now while they were kids, Chiyuki figured as she looked back at her bento as if she hadn't just stared at him while thinking. She doubted either of them would really remember a lot.

Gensuto didn't add anything else to the conversation, so Itsuka spoke up to save it, "My Kaa-chan taught me to read!" Then she looked at Gensuto. He seemed to get the message that it was his turn to share.

"I had a tutor." Gensuto stated, stiffly.

"Ohh, then you must be good at reading too." Itsuka decided, smiling, "I need to get better so I can be good too!"

The trio continued with this type of conversation, getting to know Gensuto a bit more as they ate. Most of it was superficial kid things, nothing truly interesting for Chiyuki. But she definitely enjoyed talking to Gensuto because he made the best expressions when he wasn't comfortable in a conversation. Soon the bell rang, signaling it was time for class again.

Gensuto ate with Itsuka and Chiyuki again the next day, and quickly joined the duo and made them a trio.

.

One night at dinner, Chiyuki was sipping at her thermos and nibbling on the grilled fish her brother had made them. Chizome was already done but he was sitting there, doing maintenance on one of the swords he usually kept high up and away from her.

"Nii-san, is that your sword?" Chiyuki asked placidly. She recalled their father had collected swords and her brother had taken all those swords with them when they moved into this apartment.

Chizome nodded, "Yeah, Otou-san gave this to me when I entered high school. I was in a hero course."

"Ohh," Chiyuki said, and she thought this was a good way to show she was interested in being a hero, throwing out the off hand remark, "Mm, I'm going to be a hero too, then."

Almost dropping the sword and rag, Chizome looked up suddenly at her. He squinted at her for a moment before sighing and smiling, "Well, I'll have to see if you're made of the right stuff then."

Chiyuki figured her brother wouldn't accept it too easily, especially since she had mostly avoided speaking about heroes to her brother. But she knew that somehow, some way, she would become a hero. To be reborn into this world meant Chiyuki didn't really have much of a choice. To be reborn as the younger sister of someone who would become the Hero Killer, Stain, meant Chiyuki didn't have much of a choice.

Despite feeling like she _had_ to be a hero, Chiyuki _wanted_ to be strong, to be selfish and cold. She was a bit standoffish and aloof to people she didn't know. But that was in speaking terms. Chiyuki knew that deep down in her soul, if someone in front of her was in trouble, her body would move to save them. Even if Chiyuki was thinking to herself, 'I shouldn't save them. I would get hurt', her body would still move. So she knew she needed to be as strong as she could be in this world full of superheroes.

'Unless,' her subconscious reminded her, 'You want to die again?'

Chiyuki had to shove those thoughts down. She forced them away, thinking back to why she had to be strong. There were more reasons than Chiyuki being an upstander, of course. Chiyuki figured she had to be strong to survive in this world. And Chiyuki had to be strong because of her brother. Because of who he could become.

But she didn't want to think about that yet. She still had years of her Nii-san being the loving, doting older brother that he was now. Chiyuki wanted to stop thinking about these things that were so far in the future.

"What do you mean, Nii-san?" Chiyuki questioned after an unintended awkward pause, setting down her chopsticks and spitting out the bone she had been crunching on for almost two full minutes. It was a bad habit of hers, disassociating during slow conversations to think a little too seriously.

"Heroes have to do a lot of hard work. You're super smart Chi-chan, and you stuck up for the mother's boy against bullies so I'm sure you'd make a great hero. But you need to be strong too, because I don't want you to get hurt. When you're ready, I'll teach you some self defense and exercises, and we'll see if we can figure out what your quirk can do. Then we can see if you can be a hero." Chizome explained, very seriously. He made sure he was clear and that Chiyuki understood before he went back to running the rag up and down his sword.

Looking down at her plate, Chiyuki thought she had been blessed with a very caring older brother in this life. She felt safe in his presence, as if the world itself couldn't touch her if he was there. She didn't want to be reminded of what he would someday become, nor did she want to think about how she would cope when everything fell apart.

Chiyuki slipped off the chair and put her dish and chopsticks on the counter by the sink. She went to go find the stool she needed to stand on to be able to wash her dishes. Chizome watched, smiling at the white ponytail that swung merrily as his sister ran around the apartment. She finally found the stool under the kotatsu.

"Ahh, what's this doing _here_?" Chiyuki mumbled to herself. She carried it by the handle to the sink and set it down, ready to do dishes.

Watching her, Chizome quietly whispered under his breath, "Chi-chan, do you really want to be a hero?"

She didn't hear him as she turned the water on and began to wash the plates.

.

Ever since Chiyuki had said she wanted to be a hero, Chizome had felt conflicted.

Chizome thought his sister was rather responsible for her age, and he wanted to start teaching her how to fight now. They lived in a bad neighborhood so it would potentially save her life when he started to work more and he wouldn't be home as frequently. It would also give her an edge over her potential classmates if she truly wanted to be a hero, and it wasn't just his little sister wanting to be like him in that moment.

But on the other hand, Chizome wasn't sure if he should start teaching his cute little sister to fight. She was already trying to stand up to people bigger than her, and while Chizome respected his sister wanted to help others, she was too little now. He really didn't want to give her the confidence that could lead to her stepping into a situation bigger than her.

As a happy medium, Chizome thought he could potentially start her on some kind of conditioning. Maybe some stretches and exercises that would get her comfortable with exerting a lot of energy. Chiyuki was a quiet, studious girl and Chizome predicted that she would struggle with actual physical training. Her mind may be sharp but her body was unconditioned and still growing.

Despite feeling conflicted about teaching Chiyuki how to fight, he knew one thing for sure.

She definitely needed to learn more about what her quirk could do.

Chizome wasn't as worried as he had been when Chiyuki had been in the hospital. That had been the second scariest thing that had ever happened to him, the first being the incident that killed their parents and almost took Chiyuki away from him. Now that he was calmer, and had more time to think, he was only concerned about what her quirk actually was.

Blood Thirst. It was an ominous name that Chizome hadn't liked when the doctor had named it. But considering Chiyuki had to literally drink blood to survive, it wasn't entirely wrong. He wanted to know what her actual quirk was, though. Clearly the trade off for whatever power she had, was she had to replenish her blood. Chizome knew something about her blood was the key to quirk, but he couldn't think of what her quirk could be.

Before Chizome could think more, someone called his name. He was waiting outside the staff room at Chiyuki's school, using the time to think carefully. At least he had been productive during the wait. He hated taking off work, especially when the teacher's note had said it wasn't urgent.

"Akaguro-san, thank you for coming." Chiyuki's teacher greeted him. To be honest, Chizome had forgotten her name already. She wasn't as memorable as Chiyuki's first year teacher had been.

As they sat down in the staff room the teacher got right to the point of their meeting, "Don't worry, Akaguro-san. Chiyuki-kun isn't in trouble. In fact, she is very good in school. Chiyuki-kun is very intelligent and mature and all the teachers are in agreement that she should be elevated a grade or two. Maybe more." The teacher started to pull out paperwork.

Chizome instantly shot the idea down. He hadn't even needed to give it any thought, merely stating, "Absolutely not."

The teacher sputtered and nearly dropped the paperwork, "But, surely you realize that Chiyuki-kun comprehends things at a much higher level than a second year. She could be elevated to potentially fifth year!"

Chizome snorted, "And then she'd end up with a bunch of older kids who would bully her."

"I'm sure that wouldn't happen." the teacher said, "Chiyuki-kun is very-"

"Listen, I said it isn't happening." Chizome grunted, leaning forward, "She is perfectly happy where she is. If she's so smart, then give her assignments you think would be better for her."

"Akaguro-san, Chiyuki-kun is wasting her potential in this class!" the teacher, very frustrated, huffed. Clearly the teacher hadn't expected Chizome to say no.

Rolling his eyes, Chizome stood up and glowered down at the teacher, "If I hear you do anything to try and get her into another class, I'm not afraid to make trouble, sensei. Got it?"

The teacher went to argue more but Chizome's sudden change in aura almost made the room drop a few degrees. The teacher felt her legs start to shake and she glared at Chizome's back as he began to walk out of the staff room. He looked over his shoulder and grinned, knowing he was in power here, "Have a nice day, sensei."

Walking down the hall Chizome checked the time. He wanted to wait for Chiyuki but there was still an hour before class was over. He figured he could kill some time outside the school in the cafe across the street. Maybe he could buy Chiyuki something sweet, as a reward for doing so good in school. He walked over and observed the pastries, trying to figure out which one would be the best for Chiyuki. She liked dark chocolate more than milk chocolate, but she also liked caramel things. She wasn't a fan of things with cannoli cream though.

Focused on his choices, he only noticed a commotion outside when someone yelled, "Villain!"

Turning to look out the window Chizome swore. It wasn't an especially interesting fight outside. It was a hero fighting against a villain who didn't seem to be too tough. But the thing that caught Chizome's attention was that the villain was growing in size. By the time Chizome got outside the cafe, the villain was three stories tall and seemed to have capped at that height. Chizome, a little worried because the elementary school was right there, scanned the area for other heroes.

"Don't worry, please stay back." the recent pro hero Manual called to the civilians who had stopped to watch on the sidewalk, "Ingenium has everything under control."

Chizome disagreed. Ingenium, quick and propelling himself by his arms, looked more like a fly that the villain was trying to stomp on. Chizome really wanted to get to the elementary school but the villain was in his way. Then Ingenium got a hit on the villain, knocking him back a few steps and landing his foot on the sidewalk by the elementary school. It looked like the school was in lockdown which Chizome thought was a good sign. Fights like these were actually relatively common in nice areas like this because purse snatchers found better targets. A cornered purse snatcher was a relatively dangerous villain if spooked, and often turned out exactly like this.

After Ingenium was on the receiving end of a hit, Chizome ducked through the crowd and started to cross the street. Manual sputtered and tried to grab him, "Wait, that's dangerous!"

Not caring in the slightest bit about what the pro hero had to say, Chizome ducked away from his grab. He jumped across the street and avoided a piece of debris that was tossed in his general direction. Chizome stood in front of the school now, watching carefully as Ingenium did seem to be trying to get the villain away from the elementary school. Considering Chizome was in his work clothes and didn't have his sword, he wasn't very useful in this situation. He always had a few knives on him, just in case, but the villain didn't look like his skin would break very easily.

Also, Chizome wouldn't be able to help legally because there was a pro on the scene. The laws were a little sketchy in regards to self defense. Some people could get away with defending themselves with their quirk, some couldn't. Because there was a pro on the scene Chizome wouldn't really be protecting himself, but Chizome also really didn't care about that. The only thing stopping him from trying to take this villain down before it hit the elementary school was that if he got in trouble with the law, he would lose custody of Chiyuki.

That couldn't happen. That wouldn't happen. He would die before he lost Chiyuki.

Chizome was willing to stand guard and try to redirect anything that came towards the school. Ingenium got another good hit in, a little too good, because the villain took several steps back. One foot landed in the playground of the elementary school and Chizome had to make a decision.

Fight? Or watch.

He always chose fight, but in this case, another pro hero came forward first, fire burning around him. Endeavor broke onto the scene, landing a fiery hit to the villains face. The villain fell forward into the street, but Endeavor either didn't notice there was a school or didn't care. His fire was flashy and when he tried to hit the villain the elementary school was a minor casualty. Some of the shrubs caught fire and Chizome could see children in the windows that reflected the fire. The bushes were so close to the school, Endeavor might as well have set the school alight.

Chizome _hated_ heroes like Endeavor.

But because Endeavor arrived the fight was mostly over with Endeavor defeating the villain easily. Manual, who had eyes on Chizome since he had crossed the street, was marching towards him immediately once the villain started to minimize.

"You! You could have been hurt!" Manual huffed, approaching Chizome with a disgruntled expression, "What compelled you to do that?"

Chizome gestured over his shoulder towards the school, "My little sister is in this building. Like hell I was going to let a villain fall on it."

"There are pro heroes here for a reason." stressed Manual. He was a new pro hero and was a little more nervous than someone who had been a pro for longer.

Before Chizome could argue with him, a silver hand clapped down onto Manual's shoulder. The turbo hero Ingenium stood there and turned his head towards Chizome for a moment. Chizome wasn't happy that Ingenium's suit made him hard to read.

"Relax a bit, Manual. He had a good reason, and you could tell by his movements he knows what he's doing." Ingenium said, tilting his head. He gestured towards Chizome, "I can understand why he did it. If my younger brother had been in this building then I would have done the same thing."

"But you're a pro hero, he's a civilian." Manual grumbled. Ingenium laughed.

"Regardless, no harm was done. Why don't you go put out the fire Endeavor caused?" suggested Ingenium. Grumbling, Manual walked towards the fire hydrant to get the water he needed to use his quirk. Chizome stiffly nodded his head towards Ingenium and tugged on the door to the elementary school, surprised and a little angry that it was unlocked. What kind of lock down didn't have the front door locked?

Upon entering the building, a flash of white charged him and hugged his leg. Chasing the white blur was the teacher Chizome had been arguing with earlier.

"Nii-san, time to leave?" Chiyuki asked, beaming at him as if she hadn't just tried to escape.

The teacher huffed, crossing her arms and giving Chizome the stink eye, "Chiyuki-kun, please don't run out during a lock down like that."

"It's okay. Nii-san is here so everything is fine." Chiyuki retorted. Chizome lifted her onto his shoulders. He looked at her shoes, a little amused she had enough time to escape the teacher and even switch from her slippers to her shoes.

Sighing, the teacher let them go. The day was over as soon as the lock down had started. Parents were called and would be coming to collect students soon. Chizome just happened to be in the area to get her first.

Chizome left the building with Chiyuki very excitedly telling him all about the lockdown. As they stepped out Ingenium gave them a wave and Chiyuki gasped.

"It's the pro hero Ingenium! Nii-san, why did he wave to us? Do you know him?" Chiyuki questioned. Ingenium looked like he was going to come closer and say hi but Chizome turned around and abruptly started walking away. He wasn't sure where Chiyuki had learned about the hero, but he was a little jealous that someone else was worthy of her excitement.

Chiyui gasped, "You _do_ know him. Why are you walking away, then?" Chizome cursed her intuitiveness for a moment.

"I'll tell you later. I want to hear about your lock down. Could you see the fight?" he grunted, trying to change the topic.

Allowing the topic to change, Chiyuki started to continue her story on the lock down and how Gensuto had started crying when the villain made the school shake with his steps.

When they got home, Chizome had made the decision that Chiyuki should learn some self defense in case of a stray villain. If she could even just dodge or move, that would be fine. He would teach her how to counter, too. And he also decided they needed to know what her quirk did as soon as possible. A quirk could be the difference between life or death, and the laws be damned Chizome would prefer his sister alive.

.

For Chiyuki's seventh birthday, Chizome really wanted to have a birthday party for her. She didn't really have much of an opinion on having a party but she went along with it since her brother insisted. It was hard but he figured they could have a picnic at the park and maybe he could grill something and get her a birthday cake. She could invite her friends.

"Nii-san, it would be a small party." Chiyuki informed him as he stared at his recipe book outside the supermarket.

"That's fine." he replied, "I just want to give you a birthday party this year. Invite Itsuka and that kid you lost a tooth for. Tell them it's at Center Square Park this Saturday."

Chiyuki shrugged, "Okay."

The next day in school, Chiyuki told Itsuka and Gensuto over lunch that they were invited for her birthday. Both of them, a little surprised, stopped eating and looked up at her in unison. Itsuka reacted first, being very excited.

"I'll tell Okaa-chan! What do you want for your birthday, Shiro-chan?" Itsuka bounced in her place, "New hair ribbons?"

Gensuto looked up a little nervously, "Are you sure I'm invited?"

"I only have two friends, so, yeah. You're one of those two." Chiyuki informed him. He looked a little thoughtful after that.

"Okay." Gensuto said. He smiled after a moment and both he and Chiyuki turned to look at Itsuka, bouncing in her spot.

Itsuka seemed to be more excited for this than Chiyuki, "C'mon, Shiro-chan, what do you want?"

Laughing a bit, Chiyuki demurred, "Anything from you, Itsu-chan, would be nice. It's the thought that matters to me."

A little starry eyed, Gensuto whispered, "So mature, Chiyuki-san."

Itsuka made a noise in her throat, "Don'tcha mean Shiro-chan, Suto-kun?"

Turning red, Gensuto insisted, "No! I will not call Chiyuki-san by your nickname for her, Itsuka-san."

"Ah, so boring, Suto-kun. Just call us by our nicknames." whined Itsuka, pouting.

Smiling, Chiyuki found she was actually a little excited for her birthday.

.

The weekend came fast and it was hard to tell who was more excited for her birthyday: her or her brother.

"Okay Chi-chan, I have a cake and some food to grill. I'll see if Itsuka-chan and the boy's mom want to stay and keep me company." Chizome hummed and turned to his sister, holding a hand out as she brushed her hair, "Alright, I'm going to do a nice braid for your birthday. I was reading a tutorial and I think I figured it out."

"Oh, what kind?" Chiyuki asked as she handed her brush over.

He started to brush her hair back, and then answered her, "A french braid."

Chiyuki smiled, "Sounds cool!"

"It'll be so cool, Itsuka-chan will want one too." Chizome agreed, "She's growing her hair out right?"

"Yeah. She doesn't look like a boy anymore. Her mom can do pigtail braids now." Chiyuki informed him. She kicked her feet as she felt Chizome reach for strands of hair. It was a relaxing feeling, having someone braid your hair. Chiyuki was really glad her brother had been willing to learn to braid for her, "Thank you, Nii-san."

"For braiding your hair?" Chizome asked, a knowing smile on his lips that Chiyuki couldn't see.

Chiyuki hummed, "Yes. And for everything else too."

"I'm your big brother. It's my job to be awesome." Chizome informed her, as if she wasn't aware.

Giggling a bit, Chiyuki didn't argue. She thought her big brother was incredibly awesome.

After they got to the park, Chiyuki sat at the picnic table pulling her bangs out of her braid while Chizome tried to light the grill next to it. They had wheeled a cooler that Chizome had borrowed from work to the park with them. Inside was all the food and beverages they would need. Chiyuki only had two friends after all, and that made for three young children and potentially three adults.

Itsuka showed up first, zooming at the table and dropping a box wrapped in sparkly pink wrapping paper in front of Chiyuki, yelling, "Happy birthday, Shiro-chan!"

Her mom followed behind her at a slower pace, adding, "Happy birthday, Chiyuki-chan."

"Thank you." Chiyuki blushed a little.

Chizome waved to Itsuka's mom, "Hello Kendo-san. Thank you for coming. Please stay and have something to eat."

"Oh thank you, Chizome-san." Itsuka's mom smiled, sitting down as Itsuka bounced next to Chiyuki and told her to open her present.

Chiyuki looked up a little nervously and Chizome nodded to her, giving a thumbs up. She put her finger in the crease by the tape and pulled up. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her brother make a 'Rip it open!' motion so she tore at it a bit more energetically. Eyes wide, Chiyuki picked up the box and was surprised to find not hair accessories like Itsuka had been saying, but a small art set.

Chizome let out a grunt of approval, saying, "You can draw pretty pictures like Okaa-san now, Chi-chan."

Itsuka smiled when Chiyuki was still too stunned to speak, "I saw you were really happy when we had art time!"

"Thank you, Itsu-chan. I do really like art." Chiyuki admitted. She hadn't really thought much of the crayons and paper craft they did for art time. It was true that in her past life, Chiyuki had been an artist. She had loved art. But having not done it in the years she was a baby, she hadn't really felt the need to come back to it. As her motor skills developed she would probably return to it, but it wouldn't be her main source of income in this life.

Chizome put the art set to the side and Itsuka and Chiyuki spent some time talking with Itsuka's mother. Kendo Sumiko looked a bit like her daughter, sharing the same eye shape and hair color. Itsuka's face definitely came from her father though, because Sumiko's face was round and wide. Sumiko was very pretty though and Chiyuki was sure Itsuka would take after her.

Gensuto arrived a bit later, looking very embarrassed as a young woman followed him. She looked like she was in high school, and Chiyuki was willing to bet this was his older sister. They looked similar to each other, having the same brown hair and their mother's stern built face. But Gensuto had acid green eyes while his sister had pretty lavender ones. Both had light blue rings around their irises though, which Chiyuki thought could potentially allude to whatever quirks they had. She had never gotten around to asking Gensuto about his quirk.

"Hello, I'm Gensuto's older sister, Gemma. Pleased to meet you." the girl bowed politely.

"Oh, this is your older sister, Suto-kun! She's very pretty." Itsuka hummed, and Chiyuki nodded in agreement.

Chiyuki bowed her head, "Nice to meet you, Gemma-san. I'm Chiyuki."

Laughing, Gemma looked at her little brother, "Oh, your friends are very nice and polite."

Huffing, and looking a little red, Gensuto muttered a quick 'Happy birthday' to Chiyuki and handed her a nicely decorated bag. Opening the bag Chiyuki pulled out a rather fancy bento box that was red with white cherry blossoms patterned on it. Opening it, Chiyuki found a pair of chopsticks that folded for storage that matched the bento. Underneath it there was a cloth that matched the set.

"You picked that as a birthday present for your friend, Gensuto? Kind of boring, don't you think?" his sister whispered into his ear, but everyone in the quiet group heard it.

Chiyuki smiled and insisted, "No, this is great! It's very pretty, Gensuto-kun. It's bigger than my old bento."

Chizome took the new bento gently and played with the compartments, "I'm going to new to learn how to make more rice shaped animals to fill this."

Looking pleased with himself, Gensuto explained quietly, "The red was the same color as your eyes."

Chiyuki beamed at her friends, "I have good friends. Thank you both."

Both Itsuka and Gensuto had different reactions, with Itsuka grinning and Gensuto looking rather embarrassed. Chizome took this moment to announce, "Guess what, time to eat!"

The birthday party went well after that, the children playing on the playground and running around. Chizome presented his present right before they had cake. As every year, Chizome had done multiple small gifts with one main gift being a stuffed animal. Chiyuki, holding the new soft wolf against her chest, named him Wolfy-kun. The party ended nicely with Chiyuki feeling as if she had become closer to both Itsuka and Gensuto.

That night, as they were getting ready for bed, Chizome presented her the final present. This one was wrapped differently than the others and was in a small rectangular box. Chiyuki thought it would be a necklace, but when she opened it up she found a thin, but sharp knife inside.

Chizome watched her gingerly lift it by its handle. The knife had a smooth edge and the blade retracted into the handle that had the characters for her name carved into it.

After a few silent moments, Chizome said, "Someday, I'll teach you how to use that. Just wait a bit longer, okay?"

Then he put the knife up with the swords, where Chiyuki could see it but not touch it. For days she felt like it taunted her from there until she got used to its foreboding presence. It reminded of her of the future that would bear down upon her eventually.

.

As soon as Chiyuki ended her second year of elementary school in March, Chizome brought her to the wooded park at the edge of Hosu City. She was a little confused because this park wasn't really used by most people since it wasn't taken care of. There was no playground for children and it was mostly used by joggers. Then her brother surprised her even more by letting her off his shoulders and plopping her on the ground.

"Follow me, Chi-chan." he told her, striding off in the direction of the path that ran through the woods. She jogged after him.

He had much longer legs than her, prompting her to cry, "Nii-san, slow down!"

But he didn't. Not until a few minutes later when they tapered off the trail and found a clearing in the woods. It wasn't a very big clearing, maybe the size of the yard at the school. Chiyuki looked around, very confused and a little tired from chasing her brother. Were they camping?

"Today," her brother suddenly announced, "Begins your training."

Chiyuki instantly grinned and felt excitement pooling in her stomach, "Hero training?"

"Self defense training." her brother replied seriously, "I've been planning this out for a few weeks now. By the time you're in middle school, you will know how to defend yourself properly."

"Nii-san, middle school is still a few years away." Chiyuki informed him. Of course they both knew this. But Chiyuki suspected the brother she was dealing with at this moment was closer to Stain than her Nii-san.

He nodded after a moment of hesitance, "Yes, but villains won't wait until middle school. Or have you forgotten what happened to scar your ear?"

Chiyuki put a hand to her left ear where it had never really healed after the incident that killed their parents. She was a little ashamed of the missing chunk and long rigid scar. She often hid it with bangs and fly away hairs and as far as she knew, no one had noticed it because she was positive someone would surely ask if they did see it. Frowning, and now sure of her suspicions that her brother was more Stain than Nii-san in this moment, she murmured, "Nii-san, you're being mean."

"I'm not going to be nice during training." Chizome informed her, looking down at her patiently, "When I train you I am not your favorite older brother. I'm your teacher, the one responsible for making sure you can fight."

"You're my favorite, forever and always." Chiyuki retorted, wanting to get a message across. She wanted her brother to know that she would love him, regardless of who he was. Or who he became. Because Chiyuki loved her Nii-san.

Chizome let a smile cross his lips, "Thanks, Chi-chan." But then he got serious again, "Right now, your self defense training begins. The first lesson, training your body. Then the second lesson, dodging. If you can learn those then lesson 3, counterattacking. These are the lessons you will undergo during this break and when I am satisfied, whether it be this year or next year, I will teach you how to use the knife I got you for your birthday."

Chiyuki nodded, "I understand, Nii-san. Please teach me well."

"Of course I will. I'm strong, and someday, you will be too." Chizome promised her. Chiyuki always believed in her Nii-san's promises.

The first day was hard. Chiyuki's body wasn't prepared at all. In the end, Chizome carried her home when she couldn't move her legs how she wanted. The second day was equally hard but their focus that day was her upper body, resting her lower body. Her brother had her walk home despite her legs feeling like lead from the day before. The third day was a rest day, spent at home where her brother turned on the small box TV they had and pushed a CD into the old player.

"Rest days will be spent studying. How people move, how people react... this will be important when I teach you how to dodge and counter attack. You're smart, Chi-chan, but I'm here to help you." Chizome informed her. The first videos were from professional sports. Generally in professional sports, there were two categories. There were professional sports where quirks _were_ _not_ allowed, and there were professional sports where quirks _were_ allowed. Chizome focused on fighting sports like MMA, boxing, judo, and the like with no quirks, pointing out little details Chiyuki had never really noticed before.

"You can tell that one's an amateur," her brother pointed out quietly as one of the men got a right straight to the face, "Why?"

Chiyuki squinted as they replayed the hit, closer. She hummed, "He looks like he's going to cry."

"Close. Someone who has trained will not blink if you strike towards them. You need your eyes to be wide open to fight." Chizome explained, pointing to his own eyes. Chiyuki, experimentally, flicked her hand towards her brother's face and was impressed when he didn't blink, even when her small fist tapped his cheek bone.

Suddenly her brother's hand shot out towards her and Chiyuki flinched backwards, her eyes blinking before she could even consider what he was doing. Her brother hummed, "You'll learn, Chi-chan."

.

The cycle of two work days and one rest day repeated throughout the break. Every day Chiyuki felt like her body was going to give out at any moment. But she worked as hard as she could despite the fact she had never been one to exercise in her past life. She wondered if her brother ever thought she was too precocious, too mature, too unnatural. Chiyuki doubted other seven year olds had the discipline required to train like her brother wanted her to.

But she was also reminded that her brother was young and he was learning how to raise a child. He still made mistakes, even if he tried his hardest.

Towards the middle of the break, Chizome turned one work day into a quirk day. Chiyuki was a little afraid when her brother produced a knife when he was still not satisfied with how many foam bullets she could dodge from a toy gun.

"Nii-san." Chiyuki murmured, a little nervous that he didn't pull out any of the gear he had stashed around their clearing. He held up the knife and let her look at it.

"Sorry, but today is going to be a quirk training day." her brother said. The light glinted off the knife as he waved it.

Chiyuki wrinkled her nose, "Blood."

"That's right." Chizome confirmed, taking the knife and pressing it to his palm. He dragged it lightly and presented his hand to Chiyuki. A fine line of red bubbled out from the middle of his palm. She watched it dribble down towards his wrist. He added, "It doesn't hurt."

"Says you." huffed Chiyuki. She could handle needles. But cutting ones own hand like that? She really wasn't a fan of that idea.

"As a precaution, I brought some extra blood for you to drink as we work. I think we need to talk about ideas on your quirk, first. But today we will be drawing some blood so prepare yourself for this." her brother warned her as he produced three water bottles of blood from his backpack. Chiyuki eyed them.

Chiyuki liked to explain her blood issue like this:

Hypothetically if Chiyuki, at seven years old, contained ten gallons of blood, Chiyuki could function properly until she dropped to about five gallons. There were side effects of dropping from eight to six, but at about five she would start to lose function. Chiyuki could move until four, and three would be where she would likely need the hospital to intervene. Her blood didn't disappear like nothing, rather it thinned over time. It would slowly disappear if it thinned too much. Chiyuki really, as she got older, lost less blood as her body got used to it. But she still needed to drink at least a cup a day as she lost a few cups per day. Anything less than ten gallons would be less than another, normal seven year old.

There weren't pretty numbers to actually mark how much Chiyuki needed, but she also couldn't over drink blood because then her body would just treat it as another drink instead of replenishing her blood. Thus her prescription for blood gave her about ten quarts a week, enough for a quart per day and a little extra in case she, as a child, spilled some or needed more because of some kind of accident.

Now, her brother having three water bottles was a little out of the ordinary. Three water bottles were a lot of blood that she wasn't sure they had. Considering she drank a lot per day to keep healthy, Chiyuki had to wonder where this extra blood came from. She was sure he wouldn't use this much of the blood she needed throughout the week.

But she didn't say anything, as her brother started to talk first, "Blood Thirst. That is the name of you quirk, and so far all we know is you need to drink blood to keep your own blood from thinning. I've been speculating about what this is the trade off for, so, what is so substantial about your quirk that the price you pay is this big?"

Chiyuki, interested in her brother's line of thinking, asked, "Does your quirk have a trade off?"

"My quirk, Bloodcurdle, only affects other people based on their blood type, so that is what balances it. If you don't remember, my quirk paralyzes whoever's blood I ingest, well, lick." Chizome scratched his head, a little sheepishly, "Let me know if I don't explain something well, okay? Training is a serious matter, so I might be using big words you don't understand. Let me know if you can't keep up."

"It's okay. I like to read, so I know lots of words." Chiyuki promised her brother, internally proud that she had picked up Japanese so well. Immersion was the best teacher, she supposed.

Chizome ruffled her hair fondly for a moment, "Good. Okay, moving on. My theory is that because you have such an extreme drawback, whatever your quirk can actually do is likely something big."

Chiyuki thought about it for a moment, "That makes sense. What could be that 'big' something, though?"

"That is what this," Chizome held the knife up again, "is for."

"I don't like the idea of cutting myself." Chiyuki confessed, eyeing the knife. Her brother gave her a grim smile.

"Sorry, Chi-chan. But it's important we figure out what your quirk can do." he told her, then continued on, "Because you haven't done anything different from someone who is quirkless, we can assume that your quirk affects others."

Chizome offered her the knife, red eyes looking down at her as he said, "You can do it. Or I can."

Biting at her lip Chiyuki took the knife and gripped the handle firmly. Her hand trembled a little as she put the edge to her palm and pressed down, gently.

When she couldn't bring herself to press further, she looked up at her brother. He was already moving though, his hand covering hers and pressing down and pulling. Chiyuki felt the sting and clenched her teeth for a second. But after that moment was over it wasn't too bad. It was actually a bit like having blood taken with a needle.

Frowning at her palm, Chiyuki thought her palm was probably a very inconvenient place for Chizome to have her cut.

"Feel anything different with an open wound?" Chizome carefully asked, kneeling so that he was about her height. Chiyuki stared at the blood that was welling up along her cut. Nothing felt any different, but was anything different?

Chiyuki shook her head, "Nothing."

Chizome hummed for a moment, then said, "I'm going to use my quirk on you. Your body is going to freeze but it will be for less than ten minutes."

"I trust you, Nii-san." Chiyuki replied. Her brother licked her palm and immediately it felt like her blood was going to freeze in place. Her heart skipped a beat and then, she flicked her eyes to look into her brother's.

Something felt different. Everything looked different. As Chiyuki looked over her brother she felt like there was a red haze falling over her vision. She could feel her brother's body as he stood a foot away as if he was a part of her. She could feel his blood running through his veins, his heart beating, his lungs moving. Chiyuki felt overwhelmed as her mind tried to process the information. Chizome frowned, and asked something but the blood was pumping in her ears.

Concerned, her brother reached out towards her. Then he stopped, looking down at his shaking hand.

"Chi-chan?" he whispered, and this time she heard it. The red haze was fading and she could taste something iron in her mouth.

She looked at her brother, her body trembling and she replied, "I felt it. My quirk."

Then her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed.

.

Chiyuki didn't wake up in the hospital. She woke up in the bed she shared with her brother, a heavy arm across her torso as she heard light snoring. Processing where she was a little slowly, Chiyuki lifted her hands up to look at her palms. One hand was wrapped thickly with a bandage that she was sure her brother had done.

She slipped out from under his arm and sat at the edge of their futon, trying to collect herself as she tried to remember what happened. Her memory, tinged with a red haze, was a little fuzzy. She looked at her brother and took note of the bandages he had around one arm. She tried to remember anything but couldn't. She didn't want to wake up her brother to ask but it felt like the anxiety would kill her.

So she knelt next to the futon and whispered, "Nii-san." The only response she got was a disgruntled snore, so she tried again, a little louder, "Niiii-saaaan."

One of his eyes opened and for a moment he looked at her. Then he sat up quickly, his hands reaching for her as he pulled her into his chest.

"I'm glad you're alright." he confessed, sounding tired, "You worried me, Chi-chan."

Chiyuki wrapped her hands around his neck and pressed her face into his neck, "What happened?"

She felt a sigh rumble through his chest, then he said, "A lot."

"A lot doesn't say much." Chiyuki huffed. Chizome gave a short laugh at that answer.

He agreed, "No, it doesn't."

When he didn't give her more, Chiyuki pushed, "Nii-san, I won't be able to sleep if you don't tell me."

"You terrified me. You told me you found your quirk, then you collapsed. Your hand was bleeding more than a thin cut should ever bleed so I wrapped your hand up. While I was doing that you woke up briefly. You asked for blood and then started to bite my arm. I thought you were going to rip my arm apart." Chizome explained a little briefly.

"I don't remember that." she admitted. Chizome let go of her and she rolled onto her back and looked at the thick bandage around her hand. There was dried blood peeking out from under it.

Before Chizome could say anything else, she said, "My quirk. I think I felt it."

"Well, that is what you said." Chizome agreed simply.

He must have known she would elaborate, and she did, "I couldn't move under your quirk, but something started to feel different. Everything started to turn red and it was like everything was hazy. I could feel your body, everything in it. It was like everything in your body I could individually feel as if it were a part of me."

They were silent for a few minutes as Chizome processed what she said and started to think.

Chiyuki was dozing off when he spoke again, saying, "I'm sorry I'm making you do something so dangerous, Chi-chan. But I have more ideas for your quirk now. We're definitely going to keep practicing."

"Did you figure something out?" Chiyuki asked, yawning.

Chizome wrapped an arm around her again as he settled in to sleep, "Just theories. We'll practice with your quirk once a week until school starts again. Get some rest, Chi-chan."

Chiyuki wanted to know what he was thinking, but Chizome was fast asleep before she could verbalize anything. So she allowed herself to drift off, her thoughts being she had plenty of time as a child to figure her quirk out.

.

The next time they practiced Chiyuki's quirk, they did it in their home. They figured walking to the park just to cut hands and stand there was a bit pointless, so they did it in the comfort of their own apartment. This time, Chizome patiently waited for her to be able to cut her own palm. It took her a bit of stalling but eventually she nicked herself in more so an accident than a purposeful cut. The cut oozed blood quickly and Chiyuki almost panicked.

Chizome hummed, "I see. I think your quirk is responsible for that. The doctors might have to put you as anemic in your next appointment." he paused, "Do you know what that is?"

"It's when you bleed more." Chiyuki answered. She did all that vocab and reading as a smaller child for a reason. Her brother seemed impressed she actually had some kind of idea and Chiyuki added, "I don't think I'm actually anemic though, so they might not put it in."

"Quirks make everything a special case." Chizome responded evenly, "Even simple quirks can have the strangest and unnoticed parts to them."

Nodding along, Chiyuki listened as Chizome explained what they would be doing that day. First, he wanted to find out the trigger that caused her to 'feel' her quirk. Then he wanted to see how long she could hold her quirk. That was all he wanted to do that day.

Chiyuki looked at her bleeding hand, "I want to know everything now."

"I know, but everything in moderation. We'll find out soon enough what your quirk does. But we need to find out how to get it to be second nature to you since you're a late bloomer developing your quirk." Chizome sympathized with her, that much she could tell. She was sure he wanted to know everything about her quirk too.

Chizome took her hand and licked her wound. She felt the paralysis fall over her but even after her brother stepped back, she could still feel him. Her vision started to fade red and she could hear her heart beating in her ears. Again, she could feel everything in her brother's body as if it were a part of her body she had always had. Every individual blood cell felt like it was like a hand to her. They were hers. She could feel them. She knew them.

She could control them.

Then she tasted iron and she lost the feeling on her brother. Her own body came into complete focus and when she looked at the cut on her hand, she could feel the sting again. There was a pain in her mouth and when she parted her lips, blood dripped out. She had somehow bit into her tongue without noticing.

Chizome knelt down to look at her new injury, "Why did you bite your tongue so hard, Chi-chan?"

"I didn't feel anything." she replied, sticking out her tongue.

Frowning, he said, "I'm going to lick your cut again."

And he did so. Chiyuki, for the briefest moment could feel him again. Everything in his body was hers now. But then the taste of blood was in her mouth and she could feel everything again. She looked down at her arm where she felt a new cut. She blinked at her brother who had just pulled a knife across the top of her bicep.

He frowned even harder, his eyebrows knitting together, "That's... good and bad. It looks like you don't feel pain when you taste my blood. Did you actively do something to release your quirk?"

Chiyuki shook her head, "No, I barely had any time to really understand anything. But... I have an idea."

"What's that idea?" Chizome pressed, taking out a bandage and wrapping it around the cut on her bicep.

"I think... my blood releases it." Chiyuki answered, and when Chizome gave her a curious look she added, "Each time I've ended my quirk I've tasted blood in my mouth."

Humming, her brother said, "Well, we'll have to test that next time since your tongue is bleeding today. If that is what causes your quirk to cancel, we'll probably have to switch to exercises today."

Chiyuki... really didn't want that. She pouted, flexing her tongue around and wishing it would heal. But Chiyuki, more aware of her body now that they were quirk training, felt a pulse. For a moment she tasted blood. She tasted so much blood it was like she was drinking from her thermos. She staggered after a second and Chizome quickly grabbed her before she fell over.

Very tired, and now very thirsty, Chiyuki reached for a water bottle of blood. But that was further and Chiyuki eyed her brother's arm. Without much a mind of it, she opened her mouth and bit right down on his arm.

Blinking, Chizome sighed, "I don't mind you doing this but, couldn't you have waited-" he paused, "You are very pale, Chi-chan. Hold on take a water bottle I think you need more than a single bite of my arm."

He stretched to reach one of the blood bottles and Chiyuki felt like she was on another plane of existence for a moment. She was dizzy and it felt like her body had just lost a a portion of blood. She was supporting herself on her brother because she was sure if he wasn't there, she'd be on the ground. She grabbed the bottle when he handed it to her but she paused before she could drink.

"Nii-san," she whispered, "I think it works like that too."

"Chi-chan?" Chizome prompted, a concerned look on his face.

"I can feel you. It's not as strong as when you lick my hand but, I can feel you. I can..." Chiyuki could feel the red haze starting to take affect. Before it could fully settle she took a chug of the water bottle. She had expected the haze to go away when she did that but it kept growing. It was delayed a bit but she could feel her brother again and while she felt like she couldn't control every single thing in his body, she definitely had an influence.

Chizome hissed and grabbed his shoulder. Chiyuki stared at it, concentrating very hard. When he pulled away his hand there was a splotch of red as a very fine line of blood dribbled from a small hole. It only took him a few moments to connect the dots of what had happened, and Chizome in that moment decided he needed to sit down. He sat both of them down on the couch and they settled there.

Chiyuki stuck her tongue out after a moment. Chiyuki had expected what they saw, and Chizome swore for the first time in front of her.

"Fuck." he blurted out.

Swallowing, Chizome said, "First of all, don't repeat that. Second of all, Blood Thirst is terrifying. Chiyuki, release it. Use the cut on your hand."

Because of how he used her name she knew he was serious. Chiyuki licked her hand with her tongue that was certainly not bleeding anymore. The cut was gone and Chizome looked like he had seen a ghost. She felt the red haze fade and she chugged her blood bottle before grabbing the second and sipping at that one for good measure.

Chizome collected himself again, "Okay. We learned a lot more than we wanted to, today. I... Actually, tell me what you think, first. Blood Thirst is your quirk."

Chiyuki actually did not want to talk about what she thought, but she figured she didn't have much of a choice at this moment. So she breathed in deeply and put her hands on her knees. She wanted so badly to talk to Chizome as an equal in that moment. She was terrified of her quirk. She didn't want to have to sound like a child. But to him she was a child, so she couldn't sound too mature.

"My quirk," she said quietly, "Is scary. I think... well first, I think I can control you when I lick your blood. I could feel everything in your body like it was a part of my body that I've always had. When I taste my own blood I think it ends my control. I think I can heal myself, but I felt a lot of my blood disappear when I did that. Like, a lot of it. Also, I see everything in red when my sense of pain is gone and I can feel your body."

Chiyuki paused for a moment before shakily adding, "Nii-san, I'm scared. My body feels different now. It's like I'm more aware. I can feel my blood moving in my veins. I want it to stop."

Chizome hugged her, rubbing her back, "I know it's scary, Chi-chan. I'm scared for you too. If I had known your quirk was something this dangerous... I think the best thing we can do from here is let you grow more before we try this again. No more biting me or me ingesting your blood. But I do want you to practice things you think you can do on your own. It's your quirk, it's part of your body. You just have a quirk that requires more practice than something like mine."

"What if I accidentally kill you?" Chiyuki sobbed into her brother's chest.

"You won't." he promised her, rubbing her back a little harder.

Chiyuki shook her head, "I could have earlier. What if I hadn't controlled it as well, and instead of making hole in your arm, I made a hole in your heart?"

"That didn't happen, and the more you practice with yourself and understand the feelings you get, the more control you will have when we practice on me again." Chizome soothed her, "Don't worry about your quirk Chi-chan. Your quirk is something special."

"I don't want special." she huffed and Chizome squeezed her to his chest harder.

Chizome whispered into her hair, "You're my special little sister. Even if you were quirkless, you'd be special to me. So don't worry, things will be okay. I'm here for you."

.

It was late at night when Chizome hopped the fence into the graveyard. His late night shift had ended and he was feeling stressed after the events of the other night. Chiyuki was quieter and more withdrawn than usual ever since they had learned what Blood Thirst had the potential to do. She still followed the exercises that he wanted her to do but it was like her mind was always elsewhere. It was a time like this that made him wish their parents were still alive. His parents would have known what to do, but he was at a loss.

He knelt at their grave when he found it in the pitch black night. The flowers they had left there were withering now but Chizome hadn't brought new ones since this was a spur of the moment visit. He pressed his forehead against the cool stone and exhaled.

"Okaa-san, Otou-san, Chi-chan is growing up too fast. I think I made a mistake, though." Chizome admitted. There was no answer from the grave and Chizome closed his eyes, "I want her to be able to protect herself when I'm not there to protect her. She walks to her little friends house, and then walks back through our shitty neighborhood all by herself. If something happened to her... I would never forgive myself."

He leaned back, "But now, I wanted Chi-chan to learn more about her quirk. I've been giving her self defense lessons and she's a little slow and not very fit, but she's still a growing kid. She picks up on things so quick so I thought she should know what she could do. And, we definitely found out some things, but fuck, neither of us were ready for it."

Chizome turned to lean his back against the grave and he looked up at the night sky, whispering, "Blood Thirst. Her quirk is like a mutated, scarier version of what you could do Otou-san. While you had to hurt yourself to hurt someone, Chi-chan... You could either ingest blood or infect someone. She's like that, from what I'm guessing, but all she needs to do is will someone dead and they'll die. I'm just so glad that she can heal herself like you." He put a hand on his shoulder where Chiyuki had pierced his skin without even touching him.

"That's not it though. She can't just _do_ all that. I already told you she has to drink blood, but I have a suspicion that everything she does costs her own blood. What if she accidentally kills herself? I kind of want her to stop messing with her quirk all together, but.." Chizome hid his face in his knees, uttering, "She said she wants to be a hero. Like I wanted to be."

"I want her to follow whatever dream she has, and if that's to be a hero then for her to be a righteous, selfless hero. A true hero, not like the fake heroes today. And with her quirk... she could be someone so strong villains would put themselves away. If I could teach her to fight like me, and use her quirk, she could be... well, a killing machine to be honest. I don't know what else her quirk could do but, I'm so unsure how to go on from here." Chizome leaned his head back against the stone again. He closed his eyes.

He felt tears well up in his eyes and he wiped them away, "I don't want Chi-chan to be messed up by all this. I know she's confused and scared. I'm confused and scared. But I don't want my precious baby sister to have hands that are stained like mine. Once you kill someone... it's so easy to kill again."

Chizome was silent for a few minutes. Sometimes he dreamed about the first time he killed someone. He could still feel the grip of his sword in his hands sometimes when he couldn't sleep at night and he could hear the noise of his sword piercing the man's flesh in the wind. But then he remembered the still warm bodies of his parents and then his little sister, covered in their blood. He would never regret killing those men. He didn't even hesitate back then, and he doubted he would hesitate if he killed again.

Something had changed in him that day. Stray thoughts about how much he hated fake heroes and how they should be purged to allow the true heroes to exist. How he knew killing a villain could solve future problems that villain could cause. Chizome knew he would never be a hero, not like his sister could become. She was a gentle, kind person. She stood up for a boy who she had once fought with. Heroes were supposed to subdue villains, not kill them.

Chizome was a killer, but he was alright with that.

"What do I do?" he asked the grave, "Do I let Chi-chan try and become a hero? Do I try and push her on a civilian path? Or... should she be like me?"

The wind blowing was the only answer he got. Chizome stood after another half hour and he felt calmer, having talked about his worries. He still wasn't sure what to do but at least he could breathe a little easier now.

Whatever he would choose, he figured Chiyuki also had a decision in her own future as well.

.

The end of the break came with Chiyuki having gotten a little bit more fit, and she was very capable of dodging now. They hadn't actually gotten to counterattacking so Chizome promised her he would teach her that during their next break if she kept up her conditioning.

Chiyuki began her third year of elementary school nervous about her quirk. Itsuka and Gensuto noticed a difference in their friend but Chiyuki didn't say anything to them. She just drank her thermos like she was supposed to and sometimes at night, she considered trying to heal herself as practice. When she tried to fall asleep she could follow her blood and fall asleep to the rhythm of her body. Her brother wasn't wrong in that she felt like she was gaining more control over her body as she did these things.

But she was very careful not to bleed anywhere near someone if she got a cut or scrape. She was also careful that she didn't accidentally bite someone when they were playing. She was a little overly careful, but Chiyuki wanted to be absolutely sure she couldn't accidentally hurt someone with her quirk.

Chiyuki kept motivated despite her new fears. She wanted to be a hero still, and she would find a way to conquer her quirk.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **This became a MONSTER chapter. Honestly, this chapter initially was supposed to end at the end of elementary school but I had to end it here. The next chapter will likely be Chiyuki's remaining years in elementary school. It will also likely be a monster chapter, so it might be a week or two of writing and editing.**

 **I want to talk briefly about how I've chosen the POV in each section. When writing I try to either write from a 3rd person with Chiyuki's thoughts, or 3rd person with Chizome's thoughts. I focus mostly on Chiyuki, as she is the protagonist, and as she gets older I probably will have less Chizome POV. But for now I really want to highlight how both characters are feeling about each other, their lifestyle and events that happen.**

 **So Chiyuki! I'm a little concerned that the POV makes it hard to show who she is because she's trying to act like a child while thinking as an adult. Her personality is a little aloof and she has a habit of disassociating. She's restraining herself a lot to try and keep herself as childish as possible, but as she grows and can talk to people as more of an adult she'll be able to relax and actually be personable. So please bear with me, I'm trying to add as much Chiyuki thoughts I can without there being too much thought and not enough action. I'm focusing a lot on dialogue, too.**

 **Fun Fact : I can't math and actually went back and aged Chiyuki down a year. It didn't change much. I accidentally had her as the oldest in the year instead of the youngest like I intended and stated. Lmao.**

 **Please let me know if you find any mistakes! Large chapters are hard for me to edit.**

 _Thanks to the following for reviewing (:_

 _jmb1rdb  
TMTMTM (I hope you like Chiyuki as she grows :D)  
SesshyXKagomeLover  
MarvelGeek13  
Lee  
LightFun27  
bloodplus103  
Hell Province_


	3. The Sister Grows

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 3_

 _The Sister Grows_

* * *

Chiyuki and Chizome were siblings who never fought.

Their special circumstances meant they didn't have a traditional brother sister relationship, so they couldn't fight like siblings. Chizome was Chiyuki's legal guardian which meant he was entirely responsible for her. He had to support Chiyuki as a parent would, which would normally make a relationship a bit more awkward. He and Chiyuki had always been close, and the first time they had ever felt apart from each other was, in her own opinion, Chiyuki's fault.

When the school year started, Chiyuki tried her best to act like normal. She walked to Itsuka's house in the morning and then from there they walked to the school together. They would sit together at lunch and Gensuto would join them once they were outside. They normally ate at the playground because it was nicer than the stuffy classrooms. Normally conversation would flow well between the three. Gensuto and Chiyuki could discuss anime, and Gensuto got Itsuka to play some video games. Both Gensuto and Itsuka liked to listen to Chiyuki explain things because they found that Chiyuki was very smart. However this year, Chiyuki knew she wasn't acting like she usually did which led to her causing more awkward pauses than usual.

She was quiet, as she normally was, but her kind of quiet was the calm peaceful kind. Now she was more somber and detatched. She had lost the light about her that made the teachers praise her and her friends feel at ease with her. There was a gloomy aura about Chiyuki that everyone, even the most oblivious of children, noticed.

"Shiro-chan," Itsuka began after a very long silence at lunch, two weeks into the school year, "Are you okay?"

Gensuto, eyes wide, looked between Itsuka and Chiyuki as if something were about to happen. Chiyuki looked up from opening her bento and said, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Itsuka pressed, nudging Gensuto with her foot.

Despite looking like he would rather not be involved in this conversation, Gensuto added tensely, "We didn't see you over the break at all."

"I spent it with my brother." Chiyuki replied, eyes looking directly at Gensuto. Normally, when she stared at Gensuto he would get nervous and look away. But today he held strong, although he did start running his finger along the edge of his shirt in an anxious way.

"My quirk." he finally stated, "I see numbers."

Chiyuki blinked at the sudden revelation. She tilted her head to the side and parroted, "Numbers?"

Itsuka was quiet and still. She was watching, holding her breath as Gensuto and Chiyuki looked at each other silently. Chiyuki was trying to measure his stare but Gensuto, for once, seemed very confident in what he was about to say.

Gensuto explained his quirk without looking away from Chiyuki, "My quirk is called Game Data. I can see numbers that represent HP, Level, Magical Power, and Physical Power. Before break, your numbers were 70HP, level 7, 7MP, and 7 Physical. All of your numbers are sevens because you are seven and haven't done anything to level yourself up beyond average for your age. Your numbers, ever since school started, have been 70HP, level 12, 20MP, and 20 Physical."

All three of the kids were quiet for a few moments. Chiyuki was soaking in the information Gensuto had just put out in front of her. Gensuto's quirk sounded really interesting, she thought. She had been wondering if his quirk had been related to his eyes, and she found it funny how his quirk was related to video games when he played a lot of them. She wanted to think more, but this wasn't the time for her to disassociate. When Gensuto looked like he was about to say something else, Chiyuki cut him off, asking, "What would be considered a high level?"

"Well, I can use my quirk to see the stats on heroes through the computer and TV, so the highest numbers I've ever seen belong to All Might." Gensuto stated delusively before pushing, "What did you do over break, Yuki-chan?"

The nickname made her pause. Chiyuki looked at him again, wondering where this sudden change had come from. Had she been acting strange enough that even Gensuto had noticed and asked? She hadn't thought she'd been too weird. She still moved her body the same despite the strange sensations she sometimes felt. She still drank from her thermos every day and she was still secretive about the contents. Sure she was a little more careful but she doubted that made a big difference in her usual actions.

Chiyuki answered blandly, "My brother taught me some self-defense moves."

She kept her pokerface as Gensuto searched her expression for any sign that she was lying. After a moment he nodded his head in a single slow dip, conceding, "That sounds like you had a good break with your brother. However," Gensuto tilted his head, "Don't you usually refer to him as 'Nii-san' as opposed to 'my brother' when talking to us?"

Avoiding that line of thought, Chiyuki responded with a slight grin and some bite to her words, "It seems like over break you did a lot of studying, because the Gen-kun I knew from before definitely wouldn't have had this much to say."

Gensuto returned her words with a glare, "Yuki-chan, tell us what's wrong. We're worried."

"You don't show it very well," Chiyuki retorted, standing up with her bento in hand, "I'm going to go eat inside today."

"Don't run away from us." Itsuka spoke up, "We're your friends."

Chiyuki turned her back to them, gripping her bento, "You are my friends. So please understand that I don't want to talk about this."

"Then when you're ready, please talk to us." Itsuka begged, sounding like she was on the verge of tears, "And don't be mean. The Shiro-chan I know is nicer than this one."

"Sorry, then." Chiyuki told her before walking away.

When Chiyuki was long gone, Gensuto looked at Itsuka with a frown, "Her numbers don't make sense."

"What do you mean?" Itsuka questioned, confused, "The numbers you said didn't sound bad."

"To tell the truth, the number for HP is actually two numbers. 70 is her total HP, meaning Yuki-chan should have 70 out of 70 health. But sometimes her HP changes a point without her being hurt. When someone has a cold their number might be less than full, and definitely when someone gets hurt they lose some points. But Yuki-chan was only looking at me and her HP dropped from 70 to 69. Sometimes she comes in with 60 HP and it will go up to 65HP then drop again."

Itsuka frowned, "Do you think... remember when Shiro-chan was in the hospital for a long time? What if she's sick?"

Both were silent for a long time afterwards.

.

On Friday, after many terse quiet walks from school with Itsuka, Chiyuki came home to Chizome rushing around and only greeting her with a harried 'Welcome home'. He fretted in the kitchen of their apartment, trying to make something Chiyuki could eat for dinner since he would be working extra hours. He was even going to try and make a breakfast he could heat up for her in the morning. As he was trying to figure out what she could eat cold, Chiyuki looked up from the table where she had been lazily doing her homework.

"I know how to use the microwave." she mentioned.

Chizome looked over his shoulder, "Are you sure? I haven't taught you how to use it."

Chiyuki lied, "Itsu-chan's house."

Eyeing her for a moment, Chizome said, "Well, alright. I'll just make something and you can put it in the microwave. Do thirty seconds, checking to see how hot it is each time it stops."

"Okay." Chiyuki looked back at her homework, circling an answer and frowning at the 'show your work' section. She could multiply two digit numbers together rather easily and showing her work was a tedious exercise.

Chizome made some rice and curry rather quickly, wrapping it in plastic wrap and placing it into the fridge. He told her where it was and grabbed his uniform to change. When he came back out he leaned over Chiyuki to see that she had moved on from math to writing out her kanji for the week. Satisfied, Chizome put a snack and a water bottle into his work bag before throwing it over his shoulder.

"I'll be back before you wake up. Please keep to your bedtime and keep the front door locked and the windows closed." Chizome called from where he was tying his boots on.

Chiyuki nodded passively, "Okay."

"Well," Chizome pulled on his cap and mentally made sure everything was set, "Alright, I'm off."

"Have a good shift." Chiyuki replied, rather blandly. Chizome frowned as he closed the door behind him. Chiyuki listened to the lock click before she shoved the notebook away from her and launched herself onto the couch. She landed on her stomach and she rolled herself up in the big comforter they draped on the back of it.

"I dun wanna do anything." she muttered, feeling like a burrito, "Bleeegh."

She stayed like that for about half an hour before she emerged from the comforter, bleary eyed and feeling worse than she had when she first got on the couch. She heated up her dinner and only ate about half of it, chewing slowly and not really tasting the food. She wasn't very hungry and now that her brother wasn't home, she didn't actually have to finish the meal. It was more a cultural thing than a brother thing. It was expected that someone finish their meal properly so Chiyuki always tried to eat everything she could. Normally, Chizome ate whatever was left from her. Chiyuki tossed the rest of her dinner into the garbage, shuffling it around so that the food was hidden under other garbage.

Lately, she was tired. Tired of being a kid. Tired of the culture she was still learning. Tired of always thinking. Tired of being Chiyuki.

She was tired of everything.

.

Chizome started to pick up more night shifts. When Chiyuki left for school in the morning he would drop on the couch and sleep for a few hours before he did some housework and chores. It was a lot, working a long job with odd hours and then trying to plan out meals for his younger sister. He had to shop, do the laundry, try to tidy up their apartment. But Chizome did leave some time for himself and that was what kept him from being resentful.

"Oh, Akaguro-san, back again today?" the gym manager asked, watching as Chizome dropped his work bag so he could sign in.

Chizome nodded, "Yeah."

"You've been catching some attention with those swords sets." the manager mentioned, "Some of the guys were wondering what dojo you learned from."

"Self taught." grunted Chizome. He finished signing in and walked around the area lined with machines. He stopped in the class room with the comfortable matted floors and the wall length mirror. He dropped his bag at the back of the room and removed his sword. Unsheathing it he began his warm up routine. He ran through the sets he had created for himself and by the end of twenty minutes, a few people were watching from the window along the back wall.

As he took his first five minute break to sip at his water bottle, one of the men who frequented the machines and boxing ring approached him, "You really know how to use a sword!"

"Thanks." Chizome nodded his head, then waited for the guy to walk away. But the guy didn't, instead looking at the sword Chizome still held in his hand.

When Chizome finished his break and set the water bottle down by his bag, the man asked, "Do you box?"

Chizome shrugged, "I dabble."

The man tilted his head, "What about kickboxing?"

"Again," Chizome lifted his sword and leaned it against his shoulder, "I dabble."

"We should have a match. I bet you'd be a good challenging opponent." the man announced, grinning at Chizome who mostly looked unamused.

Chizome looked between his sword and the man before saying, "I came here to practice my sets."

"Sets are fine, but sparring a real opponent is entirely different. A true fight between men is the best way to learn!" the man explained, laughing boisterously at the end.

Chizome sighed, figuring he wasn't getting away from the older man, "If I fight you will you leave me alone?"

"Perhaps, if you aren't an interesting opponent." the man held out his hand, "You may call me Oguro."

"Akaguro." Chizome retorted rather grumpily as he packed his sword into the bag and followed Oguro to the boxing ring. The attendant who managed the ring paled a bit when Oguro weaved through the ropes and launched his shirt onto one of the benches outside the ring. Chizome, much more lackluster, set his bag down next to the bench and slipped through the ropes into the ring.

The attendant looked reluctant, "Oguro-san, where are your gloves?"

Oguro grinned in response, "A real fight doesn't involve gloves, Takeshi-kun!"

Takeshi, sighing, looked at Chizome, "You're supposed to wear boxing gloves in the ring, and leg gear if you're allowing kicks. However Oguro-san... doesn't listen."

"I don't need gear. The fight will be quick." Chizome replied bluntly. Oguro laughed at that.

Looking like he really wanted to convince Chizome to not take the fight, Takeshi tried, "Oguro-san has sent a few of his previous sparring partners to the hospital-"

Oguro slapped Takeshi's back, laughing as the smaller younger man nearly fell over, "Be a good judge!" And then he looked at Chizome, barking, "Take off your shirt!"

Rolling his eyes, Chizome didn't bother arguing. He tossed his shirt in the general direction of the bench and Takeshi positioned them a few feet apart. Oguro cracked his knuckles excitedly and Chizome, feeling naked without his sword, pulled his hands up on guard like he knew boxers did.

As Takeshi started the match, claiming it was a 'Hands only' match, Chizome rushed forward. His eyes focused on Oguro's chest and he was able to see that Oguro was about to throw a right straight. But Chizome, who was very talented and well studied, didn't have much experience in boxing. And the right straight caught him right in the jaw, faster than what Chizome had expected from the bulkier Oguro.

Chizome backed up a bit and Oguro looked a little bored now that he had easily hit his opponent. Chizome's legs were shaking beneath him as he regained himself from the hit. He begrudgingly admitted that Ogure packed a punch, even when it seemed like the older man wasn't taking the spar seriously yet.

Oguro tilted his head, regarding Chizome with a steeled gaze, "Are you going to take this fight seriously now, boy?"

"Don't call me boy." Chizome grunted in response, gritting his teeth and coming in again.

.

Chiyuki's mouth formed an O as she looked at her brother's face when she got home from school that day.

"I know." Chizome muttered, holding ice to the black eye he was sporting. He looked like he got the shit beat out of him, with a bump on his jaw, a fat lip, and a cut on his temple. She could also see bruises scattered along his forearms and he was favoring his left side. The only thing that didn't seem to be roughed up was his nose.

"Did you get in a fight?" Chiyuki questioned, then frowned, "Who won?"

Almost sporting a pout, Chizome grumbled something that sounded like, "He did."

Chiyuki hummed, "Did you at least get him good?"

"Kind of." Chizome grunted and gestured towards the kitchen, "I got take out. I'm going to need to nap so I can go to work. Hopefully my face looks a bit better in a few hours."

Agreeing mentally that yes hopefully his face would look better for work, Chiyuki quietly and a little reluctantly asked, "Do you want me to try my quirk?"

"Absolutely not." Chizome stated, laying on the couch and using the comforter to put pressure on his side. He saw a hurt looked flash across his sister's face and Chizome sighed, "It's not that I don't trust you, Chi-chan. I just don't want you to hurt yourself when I'm too beat up to do anything if something happens."

"I've been practicing... a little." Chiyuki told him, "I think I can control my own body really good now."

"A little doesn't make a master." Chizome replied, watching Chiyuki. She approached him and, for the first time since she had discovered what her quirk could potentially do, she snuggled into his side.

Pushing back the hiss that threatened to come out of Chizome's mouth, he pulled her against him. They had been drifting apart and while he was glad they were acting like usual for the moment, he wished she didn't want to snuggle after the human equivalent of a train hit him.

Then he felt sharp little teeth breaking the skin on his arm.

"Akaguro Chiyuki!" Chizome yelled, trying to draw his arm away from her, "What are you-! Stop this right now, I said no!"

Chiyuki released his arm, sat up and looked at him for a few seconds. The moment her quirk started to come into effect it was like her eyes focused to another level. She looked far more menacing than a little girl should be able to look. Chizome stared into her eyes, watching her pupil dilate as her body transitioned to actively using her quirk.

Then she frowned, "Bruises are weird. They're a result of broken blood vessels, so technically I _should_ be able to fix them, or at least make it look better."

"Akaguro Chiyuki you stop this right this second." Chizome demanded, sitting up and grabbing her by her shoulders.

Chiyuki blinked and ignored her brother, asking herself, "If I do this, how much blood do I lose?"

Chizome felt a sensation and pressed his left hand against the cut on his temple. In what Chizome would only be able to describe as the weirdest sensation he had ever felt, he felt the cut pulling itself back together. Chiyuki, with a focused expression, paled a bit but she kept going and the bruise on his face faded. The pain lessened and Chiyuki almost fell sideways off the couch. Chizome grabbed her and, despite the pain in his side, rolled off the couch to get her to their blood bags.

He could feel her pushing her attention to his side and Chizome, again, demanded, "Stop right now, Chiyuki!"

She didn't stop and he hurried to grab the top blood bag out of the fridge. He ripped the seal off and forcefully opened Chiyuki's mouth, spilling the contents in and trying to force her to swallow.

She choked a bit at first but didn't resist and when the blood bag was empty, Chiyuki reached up with her hand and bit through the skin on her thumb. She sucked on it for a moment and her pupils returned to their normal state. Chizome, relaxing a bit, fell back to sit on the kitchen floor. There was some blood that spilled and he should start cleaning up, but first he had to figure out what to do with Chiyuki.

"Nii-san," Chiyuki said after a moment, looking up at him from his arms, "My quirk can be used for good things, not just bad things."

Chizome sighed when he saw the tears welling in her eyes, "Its been bothering you a lot, your quirk, huh."

"I hate it." she agreed, "It feels more like a villain quirk than a hero quirk."

"Don't say that, Chi-chan. Your quirk is a good quirk. I'm sorry that I only thought about how it could hurt people. You're right, it can help people too." Chizome hugged her. After a moment she broke free, opening the fridge and taking out a second bag. She bit through the side of it and licked at the blood coming through.

Chizome gave her a stern look now, "That being said, you _are_ in trouble, Chiyuki."

"I understand." Chiyuki replied, eyes darting between the bag and him.

"No don't you 'I understand' me. You made a point that your quirk can be good, and that you understand it more now, but do _not_ use your quirk on others. You know perfectly well the quirk laws. It was different when you had my permission, because I am your guardian and I allowed you to use it when we were practicing self defense. But I told you to stop earlier and you ignored me." Chizome lectured and Chiyuki nodded along.

She licked her lips before saying, "It was eating away at me. We weren't talking like we usually do. And I was so afraid of hurting others with my quirk, I fought with Itsu-chan and Gen-kun. It felt like every day my body was working against me and it was hard to just, live like that. I was so tired. And seeing you all beat up, I had more energy than I've had in the last few weeks. I thought I could help, so I did. And I feel like myself again, now."

"I know you had a reason, and I'm sorry I didn't know how you were feeling. But Chiyuki, you do not use your quirk on others without my permission, or theirs." Chizome told her, frowning. He looked sad, but he still had an angry posture despite the look on his face.

"I know, Nii-san." Chiyuki bowed her head, "I do understand."

Running a hand through his hair, Chizome stretched out and found a few of his bruises had faded away. Chiyuki was still learning how to use her quirk and some still remained but when he gazed in the reflection of a glass he found his face looked mostly normal again. His lip was still puffy and his eye socket still felt bruised despite there being no external sign of anything being wrong. As for his side, it still hurt like a bitch. Chiyuki was still new to her quirk, so she couldn't really fix much yet. But someday they would have to learn what she could and couldn't heal. Chizome didn't have to think about that now though, he had to think about the situation still at hand first.

"Well, I guess I have to think of a fitting punishment now." Chizome murmured. He wasn't exactly sure how to punish Chiyuki. She was normally very good and obedient. He didn't think a time out would be effective in any way, but she didn't play with toys very often and he doubted he could take anything away.

Chiyuki looked at him with big eyes, "Will you be taking away TV time?"

Chizome didn't think that would really be an effective punishment either. He definitely wanted to punish her in some way, because what she did was very bad. But at the same time, he was at a loss for what he could do to punish her. She had never done anything that warranted punishment before, so coming up with something that didn't seem menial was difficult.

After a moment, Chizome sighed, "Yeah. No TV for... three weeks. No reading light novels either."

"What about manga?" Chiyuki asked, a little cheeky.

Chizome grinned, remembering she did like to read her manga, "Nope. Absolutely no manga."

"Awww."

.

Fixing a friendship between children was easier than Chiyuki expected. She just sat down with Itsuka and Gensuto one day at lunch, opened her bento while they both stared at her, and asked if there had been any good anime recently.

Itsuka blinked at her, mouth parted but no words coming out. Gensuto was the one to simply go with the situation, answering, "Nekogami started a second season."

"What? No way! Nii-san won't let me watch TV for three weeks!" Chiyuki pouted, "I love that anime."

"They changed Nekogami's voice actor. She sounds older." Gensuto remarked, eyes staying on Chiyuki in a bit of an unsettling way.

Itsuka closed her mouth, swallowed and demanded, "You just-you just sit down with us, and start talking again!?"

Gensuto and Chiyuki both looked at her. Chiyuki took a sip of her thermos. Then she said, "Yeah."

Itsuka huffed, "Well, okay. Just because we missed you."

Chiyuki smiled, "I thought so."

Gensuto looked between Chiyuki and her thermos, "Yuki-chan, I have a question."

Chiyuki made direct eye contact with Gensuto as she tilted her head to the side. She told him to go ahead and ask.

He frowned and Chiyuki thought he'd lost his nerve, when he asked, "What do you always drink in your thermos?"

Swishing her thermos around, Chiyuki wondered when Gensuto had started picking up on things. She wondered when this child had somehow managed to get on almost the same level as her. After a moment, Chiyuki took another sip of the thermos to delay answering.

Itsuka cut in before Chiyuki could say something, "Is it true you're sick?"

"What?" Chiyuki looked at Itsuka, very confused, "Sick?"

"Suto-kun said your HP always changes and that means you're hurt." Itsuka informed her passionately. The little girl looked a bit sad, tears collecting in her eyes.

Chiyuki sighed, "No, I'm not sick, Itsu-chan. What do your gamer eyes see, Gen-kun?"

Gensuto rubbed at his eye for a second and answered, "Your HP total is 70. But your actual HP changes. It drops point by point, but goes back up when you drink from your thermos."

"Ah, that makes sense." Chiyuki nodded thoughtfully, "It's my quirk, you guys."

"You never told me you knew what your quirk was! What is it? Is it super cool, Shiro-chan?!" Itsuka bounced in excitement. Gensuto read the atmosphere better, watching Chiyuki frown and her eyes flicker to her thermos.

"My quirk..." Chiyuki began slowly, wondering if she actually wanted to tell them.

She took a bite of an onigiri to buy more time. Both her friends were boring holes into her skull with their stares. Chiyuki chewed slowly. They were her friends, yes. They were likable kids and she enjoyed spending time with them. Itsuka was bright and cheerful, having a strong and good personality. Gensuto was a little weirder, quiet and introverted and preferring to observe than interact.

Chiyuki swallowed, "My quirk is called Blood Thirst."

Itsuka oohed, remarking, "It sounds strong!"

"It sounds violent." Gensuto added, sounding more like he was agreeing with Itsuka than making a negative comment, "What does it do?"

"It drains my blood. I have to drink... a supplement, in my thermos. Gen-kun probably sees my HP drop because I'm constantly losing a little bit of blood." Chiyuki admitted, purposely cryptic. She didn't want her friends to think her a vampire, after all.

"That sounds like it hurts." Itsuka bit her lip.

Chiyuki shrugged, "It is what it is."

But she didn't want to talk about her quirk. So she changed the subject, smiling and asking, "So tell me what I've missed."

.

The year passed by quickly. Each break Chizome focused on teaching Chiyuki self defense. However Chiyuki started to notice a difference in his fighting when he demonstrated. He was getting faster, stronger. He came back from the gym with less bruises as the year had gone on. Whoever he had been sparring had been teaching her brother a lot, Chiyuki thought.

Despite Chiyuki becoming rather proficient at dodging, Chizome kept on working her conditioning and didn't advance her to countering yet. The knife he had bought for her previous birthday remained on the wall collecting dust. She was a little eager to learn something else, and when she mentioned it to Chizome, he looked thoughtful.

"Dodge my attacks," he finally said as he slipped into a fighting stance, "Then I'll see if you're ready to counter."

"Right!" Chiyuki, excited but focused, yelped. Chizome didn't say anything else, merely coming forward with a straight jab. Chiyuki ducked to the side and Chizome followed up with a right. They moved around their clearing and Chizome started to move faster as time went on. Chiyuki started to get tired, and she briefly cursed her small body for not being made to withstand workouts like these.

Her brother grunted suddenly, and a surprise roundhouse aimed for her chest stated to come. She ducked under it, feeling the air from her brothers kick tussle her ponytail. A back kick followed the roundhouse and Chiyuki barely jumped to the side. Her brother seemed a little impressed, nodding before he retrieved his toy gun and started to shoot soft bullets at her. Chiyuki dodged like hell, determined to get past dodging today.

A few bullets hit her, but considering how she could dodge most of them, it was impressive. When Chizome stopped firing, he looked a little pensive.

Then he said, "First rule of countering. You are smaller than any opponent you could possibly come against in the next few years. This means before you counter you get out of their power zone."

Chiyuki smiled, very pleased with all her hard work.

Learning to counter the break before she was a fourth year was tough. Her brother was unforgiving and allowed no mistakes. If Chiyuki dropped her guard, she ended up dumped on the floor. If there was an opening, her brother would strike through that opening. The first break she learned how to counter attack she more so learned how to keep a strong defense. By the time fourth year started, Chiyuki was certain that if anyone tried to hit her then her body would dodge and go on defense just from muscle memory alone.

And she knew that was exactly what her brother had been training her for.

.

Chiyuki knew what was happening when the class was split for health class one day. Girls went to one fourth year classroom and boys went to another. Gensuto was a little put off, since he was in Chiyuki and Itsuka's class this year unlike the previous year. But he left for the health class regardless.

"Huh, I wonder why they're splitting us up?" Itsuka wondered out loud, leaning her head in her hands as she watched some girls come in and awkwardly sit at the empty boys desks.

Chiyuki, who really didn't want to tell Itsuka, shrugged, "No idea."

The school nurse came in and gave a presentation to the girls that was a basic break down of the female system. Itsuka, for a majority of the presentation, looked positively shook. A few of the girls looked horrified, and worried. Chiyuki thought it was kind of funny, but felt a little bad about it. It wasn't like these girls had been through it yet.

Turning to look out the window, Chiyuki thought she was glad menstruation hadn't hit yet. When she got it in her first life, it had been the summer right after she finished elementary school. She hated the cramps and effort of it and even when she had died in her last life, she still couldn't come to terms with her body. As far as she was concerned, she had been enjoying life without the monthly annoyance.

"Quirks," the nurse caught her attention, "Change your bodies drastically when you are young. Some quirks may cause unusual effects, and due to the nature of some of your quirks I will be asking to see the following students in my office: Akaguro Chiyuki, Takahiro Susume, Yamato Nadeko, and Fuu Yumi."

Chiyuki groaned quietly and Itsuka sent her a knowing look. Chiyuki took her thermos with her as she followed the other three terrified looking girls. The nurse walked them to the infirmary and had them all sit on a bed while she faced them and prepared her clipboard. Chiyuki looked at the other girls and tried to guess what the nurse thought their issues could be. Yumi, as far as she knew, had a quirk that allowed her to contort her body in strange ways. Susume could transform parts of her body to match something of a bird-like creature. And Nadeko Chiyuki wasn't sure about.

"Alright girls, don't look too scared. While issues with menstruation associated with quirks are rare, it does happen. The quirks here all change your bodies in ways that I thought would potentially be difficult during your first few times menstruating. So we're going to discuss them right now starting with Yumi-kun. Yumi-kun, due to your quirk, Elasticity, I was concerned you bending your body during menstruation would cause pain you aren't used to from your quirk." the nurse looked at Yumi and the girl turned red. Yumi then explained her mother had thought the same thing, and they would be prepared when it did happen. The nurse was satisfied with that answer.

Chiyuki thought this entire intervention was a little unnecessary but she listened as the nurse then turned to Nadeko, "Nadeko-kun. Your quirk, Hormone, could effect your body due to its nature. During menstruation-"

Nadeko cut her off, proudly announcing, "No worries! Okaa-san and I already talked about this. I started my period, so we already know I'm okay. I can change what part of my body secretes what."

"Oh, very good. Chiyuki-kun then," the nurse looked down at her clipboard, "Your quirk, Blood Thirst, causes you to lose blood. My concern is that you will lose more blood than expected."

At the mention of her quirk, the other three girls looked interested. Chiyuki was very quiet during quirk counseling, after all. This was the first time they had even heard her quirk be named. With a hard grip on her thermos, Chiyuki replied, "My prescription gives me extra supplement. As I always carry some on me, I should be able to hold off until my brother can get me to the hospital if there is an issue."

"Of course." the nurse scribbled on her pad and Chiyuki did not like that the nurse had only written something down for her.

Susume spoke up, eyes still on Chiyuki, before the nurse could ask her, "Okaa-chan doesn't have an issue with her quirk, so she said I should be fine."

"Then you're all good to return to class. Please do not hesitate to come see me if you have questions or feel ill." the nurse dismissed them, a smile on her face.

The other three girls left quickly, but Chiyuki stayed behind. With big eyes Chiyuki asked, "What did you write down about me?"

The nurse smiled a sweet but fake smile that would have fooled any regular child, "Nothing important, Chiyuki-kun."

Chiyuki, just because she wanted to blame someone, blamed the nurse when she had issues.

.

It didn't happen during her fourth year, surprising enough. She nearly forgot about the health class and her focus remained on training with her brother. Every break she was his and over the two years, she learned how to counter. To learn to counter, he did teach her how to strike. Chizome had told her not to fight any kids because she could potentially hurt them because as it turned out, Chiyuki had an acute understanding of where to strike on a body. Chizome had attributed it to the unique awareness of the body that Chiyuki possessed from her quirk.

Chiyuki continued to work on her quirk on her own body, sulking every time Chizome came home with bruises from the gym and kept her far away from him. It was this that led her to realizing her quirk really only worked on fresh blood. She tried to be sneaky and when he cut himself on a knife, a few minutes later she tried to lick the cold blood to heal her brother. But it didn't work. She wondered if there was a time limit, or if the blood had to be fresh. To be fair, she knew there had been some kind of limit since she drank her blood bags without connecting to a random person.

Fifth year, Chiyuki felt confident in herself. She had class with both her friends again and Gensuto had recently learned he needed glasses which had been very funny. He was cute with a pair of thin framed glasses and Chiyuki called him Glasses-kun sometimes, much to his chagrin. Itsuka and Gensuto were slowly starting to come to a mental age where she could start being more mature and verbose. She was confident in her body, too. She was doing well while training with her brother and she was starting to grow. She had always been the tallest between her, Itsuka, and Gensuto, but now she was starting to take a lead in height among everyone in class.

Her brother, who slouched a lot, said she was going to be tall like him. Chiyuki wasn't sure she wanted to be super tall like her brother, though she did imitate his high ponytail frequently. She was growing her hair out so she could do her hair just like her brother.

Despite having a good year, it all came down rather quickly. The days leading up to her first period, Chiyuki did not feel like herself. Her body wasn't working as usual and she definitely felt the difference. Even Chizome noticed when Chiyuki spent more time being a blanket burrito on the couch than being productive.

"Are you feeling okay, Chi-chan?" he asked carefully one afternoon, kneeling next to her to put the back of his hand to her forehead.

"I don't feel sick." she replied with a very disgruntled expression, "But I don't feel normal."

She remained as a burrito for the rest of that day and she really did not want to go to school the following morning. When she got up to go take her bath, both she and Chizome realized what was happening at the same time. She blinked at her blood soaked clothes in the bathroom while Chizome had a small freak out when he lifted the blanket Chiyuki had been using to make herself a burrito and found a fresh blood stain.

Chiyuki whimpered, "Nii-san."

He turned to look at her where she stood in the door of the bathroom in just the big shirt she had been wearing. She held her pants in her hand and her eyes were watering as she said, "I think I got _it_ , Nii-san."

With a nervous laugh, Chizome said, "Okay. That's fine. Here give me those and I'll try and get the stains out."

"Nii-san, do we have any...?"

When his face dropped, Chiyuki took that as a no. She frowned and Chizome grabbed the clothes from her hand and grabbed a bucket and filled it with water. He dumped the clothes in there so the stain wouldn't dry and he told her, "Just, just stay in there. I'll go get you some."

In a hurry, Chizome was out the door to run to the sketchy convenience store down the block. Chiyuki shakily walked back into the bathroom and tried not to have a panic attack when she realized the nurse must have jinxed her. Her body was not working to her quirks command at the moment and she fell to her knees, holding her stomach as she started to feel the pain. Her vision was hazy and she tried to crawl towards the refrigerator to get her bags, but a severe cramp in her abdomen had her seeing red.

.

Chizome paced in the ladies section of the convenience store. He had to hurry back to his sister but holy shit were there a lot of options. He debated asking someone to borrow their phone so he could call Itsuka's mom and ask her what to do. In the end he grabbed a couple of packs of different brands and tried not to look like he was panicking as the cashier rang him up.

He ran home with the bag and he dropped his keys twice trying to unlock the apartment door. Finally when he opened it he yelled into the apartment, "Chi-chan, I got it!"

There was no answer, which made him nervous, and he hurried towards the open bathroom door. Chizome dropped the shopping bag when he saw Chiyuki, convulsing in a ball on the floor.

This wasn't blood loss, he realized. She had never convulsed before. So he made the split second decision to grab the house phone and call for an ambulance. He pulled the cord as far as it could go so he could hold Chiyuki as the operator spoke to him.

"The ambulance is on its way sir. How are her eyes? What do her pupils look like?"

Chizome forced one of Chiyuki's clenched eyelids open and hissed, "Her pupils are small. Her irises look like they're glowing. This is what happens when she uses her quirk, except the glowing irises."

"Explain her quirk again." the operator requested, sounding too calm in Chizome's opinion.

"Blood Thirst. She loses blood at a constant, but slow rate. She is capable of healing herself and by ingesting or infecting someones blood she can also heal them." Chizome paused, wondering if he should continue. But looking at Chiyuki, he wanted her to be okay so he had to tell them everything, "She is also capable of controlling the blood of the infected."

"What are the limits of her control? On both her and the infected?"

Chizome frowned, "We haven't really tested."

"The ambulance will be there soon. Try to prevent her from harming herself if she starts to convulse more violently."

When the ambulance got there, Chizome yelled for them to come in. However as soon as one of the paramedics got close, Chiyuki's eyes opened and she lunged forwards. Chizome's reflexes saved the paramedic from receiving a bite to his throat.

"Chiyuki! Stop!" Chizome ordered.

Chiyuki didn't seem to hear him but she did lose the strength she had regained and she melted down to the floor again. The paramedics, a bit more wary this time, checked her vitals and flinched away every time she made a sudden move. Chizome carried her to the stretcher and he rode the ambulance to the hospital with her. She was rushed into the emergency room where the doctors put her on a blood drip and rolled her away for tests.

Chizome sat in the waiting room, hands over his face as he worried.

.

Hours of waiting had driven Chizome a little stir crazy. He had two vending machine coffees to keep himself awake all night, although he probably would have kept himself awake with sheer willpower regardless. The sun was almost up when a doctor fetched him. Chiyuki had a room to herself and she was small compared to her bed. The blanket was pulled up to her chin and long straps restrained her upper body and arms.

"Why is she restrained?" he demanded, for obvious reasons.

The doctor, looking like he anticipated an argument, answered patiently, "We believe her hormone imbalance has triggered a blood lust effect of her quirk. She would suddenly enter some frenzy for a moment where anyone nearby had to get out of reach. We had to restrain her because she was a danger to the staff and she nearly bit two nurses. We do know that she isn't completely aware of herself. A few times the frenzy ended with her seemingly aware, but we're waiting for her to calm down before we can learn anything else."

"Is she in danger?" Chizome asked, breathlessly. Chiyuki looked so small compared to the hospital bed. It was like the last time, all over again.

The doctor shook his head, "No. We've decided to assign a primary doctor to her case though, due to the nature of her quirk and that this is the second time it has brought her to the hospital. The primary will come speak with you about our results. Please excuse me."

Chizome took a seat by Chiyuki's bed and held her hand tightly. A few times she opened her eyes, looked at him, and growled something that could have sounded like words. He tried to get her to drink some water but each time she spit it up and was generally difficult. It was about nine in the morning when the primary came in.

He was an impressive man with unfortunate bubblegum pink hair and crisp blue eyes with no pupils. He looked at Chizome and remarked, "You could have slept on the couch. You look tired."

Chizome wasn't in the mood for games, barking, "Are you the primary?"

"Yes," the doctor introduced himself with a wry grin, "I'm Sakaribe Sakuya. You must be Chiyuki-kun's guardian and older brother, Chizome-san, correct?"

With a grunt, Chizome nodded. He didn't really like the casual look Sakuya had.

"Alright well Chiyuki-kun isn't in too much danger. In fact, I think her quirk is finished developing now. I expect that she will continue to have trouble during menstruation but she should be able to control the blood lust and urges with experience. Her body doesn't seem to agree with itself and because she started to fight, her body started to have a negative reaction. That's why she was convulsing and losing her mind." Sakuya flipped the page on his clipboard, "Oh, and I'll be increasing her prescription. Have her drink double the amount of blood during menstruation. Typically, over the course of a period, a female will lose a cup of blood. Chiyuki-kun has lost only a portion of dead tissue, but almost two cups of her regular blood. Hopefully this is just a result of her trying to fight her body, but it may remain consistent with every cycle."

Chizome sighed, "Her quirk is a real pain."

A weak voice from the bed complained, "What do you think I'm saying about it?"

"Good morning, Chiyuki-kun. I'm your new primary, Sakaribe-sensei. How are you feeling?" Sakuya asked, approaching her bed while Chizome dropped next to the bed and grabbed her hands.

Chiyuki gave a mirthless smile, "I'm feeling like my uterus is ripping itself apart, sensei."

"Well at least you have a sense of humor about it. Can you rate your pain on a scale of one to ten?" Sakuya requested, retrieving a pen from his pocket and flipping to another page on his clipboard.

"Six. It's not overwhelming, but I definitely can't ignore it, nor would I want to move. Also, I've been aware this entire time. I just wasn't in much control over instinct." Chiyuki mentioned casually despite her eyes darting between her brother and the doctor, "So, I agree that my quirk is a pain."

Humming the doctor asked, "And how old are you?"

"Nine." Chiyuki grinned.

"What a precocious child, you speak very well for your age. I'm going to use my quirk, Diagnosis. You will feel an odd sensation in your body but don't fight it." Sakuya smiled a big white teethed smile before putting his hand on Chiyuki's abdomen and his hand seemed to phase into her.

Neither Chizome nor Chiyuki looked very happy with what had just happened.

Chiyuki made a face, "Yeah, I do not like that. Ten on the awkward scale."

Sakuya laughed, "Yes well, you're more aware of your body due to your quirk. Most people do not feel it."

The rest of Sakuya's visit consisted of him finishing his diagnosis and then doing more normal tests. Chiyuki's restraints were removed when it seemed she had her wits about her although a few times Chizome's voice snapped her out of a worrying daze. That night Chizome was kicked out of the hospital when visiting hours ended and he went home to recuperate after not sleeping the previous night.

Chiyuki remained in the hospital for a week where she was able to keep herself under control for the most part. She was in pain for the first three days but it was gone by the sixth day. She returned to school with a new fear of blood lust, but also a determination to keep her quirk under control. Chiyuki swore she would take control of her body.

.

During one of the last few months of fifth year, Susume 'accidentally' knocked into Chiyuki's thermos and spilled it aggressively. It had been during homeroom when Chiyuki had been absently sipping at it while talking to Itsuka and Gensuto. Susume, walking past, smacked it with her swinging arm. The result left Chiyuki with a portion of her thermos dumped across her front and the rest of it on the floor and spreading quickly.

Chiyuki, mortified, stayed silent as the entire silent class took in the scene. Chiyuki was able to smell the iron now that her thermos wasn't containing it and Susume scrambled backwards when she realized the drink had spilled onto her uniform.

"Is this blood?!" Susume yelped, grabbing the nearest thing she could wipe at her shirt with.

When no one said anything, Susume slammed a fist onto Chiyuki's table, demanding, "Are you drinking blood, Akaguro-san?"

The biting formality of her name made Chiyuki frown, "What I am drinking is none of your business, Takahiro-san."

"It is when it smells like blood and spilled on me. What kind of freak drinks blood!" Susume retorted, face contorting rather angrily. When Susume was angry, she became rather bad at keeping to one side of her quirk and so her lips started to curve into a beak shape and patches of her skin started to morph into feathers.

Itsuka stood up and glared at Susume, "Shiro-chan needs to drink that for her quirk."

"Oh, that's right." Susume sneered, "Her quirk is called Blood Thirst. What are you, Akaguro-san, a vampire? Are you going to bite me now?"

Chiyuki, rather angry but trying to remember she was dealing with children, made a face, "Sorry, I'm allergic to chicken."

That definitely ruffled her feathers as Susume's brow pinched forward, and she more so squawked than anything else, "At least I'm not a blood drinker!"

"If I don't drink it, I die!" Chiyuki retorted, "Would you rather I be dead?"

"Hah, so you admit you're a blood drinker!" Susume screeched and a few kids in the classroom stepped back. The door slid open and their teacher stepped in. He was saying something but stopped as soon as he took in the scene.

It wasn't a very good scene. Itsuka and Chiyuki were both looking angry with Itsuka's hands balled into larger than average fists. Gensuto was trying to discreetly grab onto the girls to prevent them from making the situation worse, but his eyes were narrowed in a way that suggested he wasn't any happier than his friends. Susume was something out of a horror movie despite how beautiful the golden feathers she was sprouting across her body. Her fingers, growing talons from her nails, were leaving a furrow in the desk she was holding. Chiyuki's blood had spilled about the width of three desks with the majority of the contents being on Chiyuki.

The teacher made a noise that sounded like a yelp.

Chiyuki and Susume both saw the teacher and immediately Susume brought on tears, crying, "Sensei! Akaguro-san was drinking blood!"

"He knows!" grumbled Chiyuki.

The teacher hurried over to the group after another moment of disbelief. He checked Chiyuki for injuries and sent her to the nurse to clean up while he sent another student to get the principal. Itsuka glared holes into Susume's back as she was led out by another teacher who arrived to help and the rest of the class was brought into the hallway away from the spilled blood.

In the nurses office, Chiyuki was simmering.

"That's not a good face, Chiyuki-kun." the nurse mentioned as she shifted through the extra uniforms she had, "Would you like to talk about what happened?"

Chiyuki almost exploded, "This is why I didn't tell anyone!"

The nurse hummed, "I know, your reason was very well thought out. Now that your class knows, what will you do?"

"I don't know." Chiyuki confessed, "Act as I always have? I've been drinking from my thermos for years, they just never knew what was in it."

"Explaining your quirk may help them understand why you need to drink blood." the nurse advised, picking up a small uniform and holding it up. Nodding at the sizes, she handed it to Chiyuki who changed. The nurse stepped out to ask what the situation was and Chiyuki leaned against the wall by the door, listening in.

"The students are scared of her." Chiyuki heard her homeroom teacher say, "They all think she's going to bite them and drink their blood like a vampire."

The nurse made a disgruntled noise, "Did you explain her quirk to them?"

"No. I'm not sure about the details of her quirk. The name is rather intimidating though so I didn't want to mention it." the teacher admitted.

The principal finally spoke up, "I called for Chiyuki-kun's older brother to come to the school however I wasn't able to get a hold of him."

"What did you expect? The older brother is just a kid himself. It's a wonder Chiyuki-kun is actually a rather good student and-" another teacher began, but the nurse cut him off with an aggressive hiss.

"How is Chiyuki-kun, Reiko-sensei?" the principal asked the nurse kindly.

Reiko sighed, "She's a good, smart girl. I think she's shaken from how unexpected this was. She had been keeping her quirk a secret because she was afraid her classmates would be afraid of her."

"To be fair, the students do have a reason to be scared." the quirk counseling teacher pointed out, "Chiyuki-kun's quirk is rather aggressive. Her hospitalization this year and the report that came from it were alarming."

Reiko snorted, "So she has a quirk that's a little intimidating. We as the adults who guide her should be teaching her how to control her quirk."

The quirk counseling teacher sighed, "The hospital report revealed a lot more about her quirk than I anticipated. Originally, all the information I had was the name of the quirk and the note that explained why she had to drink blood from her thermos." The rest of the teachers were quiet for a tense moment, then the quirk counseling teacher began to explain.

"Blood Thirst is an emitter class quirk that allows Chiyuki-kun to alter her own blood, or through infection or ingestion of others blood, she can alter theirs. Her file states that she can heal at a great cost of her own blood count. With this information, I hypothesized Chiyuki-kun is capable of both healing someone, and harming someone." the quirk counseling teacher took a deep breath, "I'm concerned that without proper handling, Chiyuki-kun could cause a lot of issues with her quirk."

Chiyuki felt her knees go weak and she held onto the wall for support. There was a pregnant silence and Chiyuki mentally begged for someone to be on her side.

"Are you implying Chiyuki-kun will end up as a villain?" Reiko asked coldly.

When no one replied, Chiyuki leaned her forehead against the cool wall. Chiyuki told herself that she wasn't a villain.

"Every quirk has the potential to do both good and evil," the principal finally said, "We, as educators, are to set examples for these young children. Children are pure and easily influenced. We guide these children to become good people, thus, we should guide Chiyuki-kun to use her quirk for good."

That seemed to settle the meeting, but as they dispersed Chiyuki caught one teacher mutter, "Or to never use her quirk at all."

.

Chizome picked Chiyuki up from school after he had arrived home to a message on the answering machine.

"Sorry Chi-chan," Chizome apologized as they walked away from the elementary school, "I was at the gym and didn't get the message. I heard you had a rough day?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Maybe at home." Chiyuki replied, grasping for her brothers hand.

He gripped hers in a comforting, tight way and he said, "All right. Do you want to be carried?"

"No." Chiyuki shook her head. She was too big to ride on her brothers shoulders like she did when she was a bit smaller. She was heavier now and had long legs and arms. Chizome would carry her regardless even though Chiyuki knew she was getting too big for him to muscle through.

As they arrived back at the apartment, Chizome went about making hot chocolate for the both of them. They sat on the couch and Chizome put on an anime to play quietly in the background. Chiyuki wrinkled her nose at the TV, "I've seen this episode."

"You've seen all of them, Chi-chan." Chizome retorted, laughing when she loudly sipped her hot chocolate in response to him.

They watched an episode before Chizome asked about her day. Chiyuki sighed in defeat and cradled the empty mug in her hands.

"I don't want to go to school tomorrow." Chiyuki admitted, "Everyone will be afraid of me."

"They'll get over it." Chizome told her, patting her head.

Chiyuki shook her head, "Even the teachers were afraid of me."

"Everything will be fine." Chizome promised.

The next day, Chizome had to drag Chiyuki out of bed and push her through their morning routine. When Chiyuki walked past Itsuka's house she didn't see the orange haired girl anywhere waiting. Feeling a pit in her stomach, Chiyuki debated skipping school. But even walking aimlessly led her to school eventually.

When she put her shoes in her locker, she was glad to find nothing from bullies. Chiyuki had been expecting nails or pins in her locker, maybe notes telling her to go suck somewhere else. It was a pleasant surprise that there was nothing of the sort in there. She walked to her classroom slowly and when she opened the door and quietly snuck in, the room slowly quieted down as her classmates noticed her. It felt like at once, everyone turned to look at her. She walked to her desk quietly and set her bag on its hook and placed her thermos on the corner of the desk where it always sat. The boy who sat in front of her scooted his desk up where it was almost touching the chair in front of him.

A desk pushed up against hers and Chiyuki jumped when Itsuka leaned over, and said, "You're late today, Shiro-chan! I didn't think you were coming."

Chiyuki turned around and Gensuto looked at her from above the manga he was reading, "Good morning, Yuki-chan."

Holding back tears, Chiyuki smiled.

"Good morning, Itsu-chan. Gen-kun."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **This chapter started to get long, so I actually still have more elementary school for next chapter.**

 **I'm going to ask that, if there are any medical inaccuracies in this chapter, to please not mention them in detail. I really wanted to write about Chiyuki's struggles with her quirk, and introduce the final part of her quirk. However I have severe anxiety related to sickness and my own health, which made this chapter rather hard for me because of the specific topic it covered. I didn't want to write much about Chiyuki's menstruation, but it was partially for me to get around my own fears and personal issues. I also thought it would be a good point where her body is changing and her quirk can finalize. It was a way for me to set things up.**

 **From here on out, Chiyuki's quirk is pretty much all there. She still needs to figure out her limits and how she can take advantage, but there are no more surprises. I intend for her quirk to make her into a berserker type fighter.**

 **Fun Fact : Itsuka, if you didn't already know, is a real character in Boku no Hero. She's the red haired girl from class B.**

 **Side note, are PMs not a thing people do anymore? I remember Pms used to be used frequently to speak with reviewers when I first joined fanfiction in middle school, years ago. I like acknowledging reviews, but I don't want to make it weird? It's also hard for me to remember who I Pmed, and I don't like leaving comments in the review thank yous but I want to make sure the reviewers knows how much I appreciate feedback.**

 _ **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**_

 ** _Pizzas Cat (Thank you for the suggestion!)_  
 _bloodplus103 (:D)_  
 _YomuHime (:D)_  
 _Nameless (I'm so glad you like her quirk!)_  
 _Barking Spiderweb (Thank you for such a thoughtful review!)_**


	4. The Brother Works

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 4_

 _The Brother Works_

* * *

Chizome was rarely home as Chiyuki entered her sixth and final year of elementary school. He was working extra shifts and even over the break he had left her to train mostly on her own. Chizome had said he would teach her to use the knife he got her but the promise had been empty as soon as he started working more. Despite wanting to learn how to use her knife, Chiyuki understood he was working hard for them so she didn't push. Her lessons continued when they had free time but were frequently review, with Chizome not having either the time or energy to show Chiyuki something new.

One day, just as her final year of elementary school began, Chiyuki came home to find not one but two futons in the apartment. One of them was clearly new and had fresh mint green blankets folded neatly on top, looking rather comfortable next to the creaky futon Chiyuki shared with her brother. She stared at it in confusion for a few moments until Chizome came out of the bathroom.

"Oh, that's yours now, Chi-chan." Chizome mentioned with a big smile, "You've been getting pretty big and soon it'll be too cramped for us to share the old futon."

Chiyuki blinked, "Oh, I understand."

"You don't sound too excited." observed Chizome, watching her look between the old creaky futon and the fancier new one.

"It was nice sharing with you, Nii-san." Chiyuki admitted but she picked up the new blanket, ran her hands across it, and found it was extremely soft. Shoving her face against the fabric Chiyuki whispered, "It feels like a really soft cat."

Chizome laughed, and picked up the pile of plushs that Chiyuki had collected over the years. He dropped them on the futon and helped Chiyuki arrange them so that they wouldn't fall between the wall and the futon. Chiyuki wrapped herself up in the blanket and peered out at her brother.

"I know you really like soft things so I got you the softest blanket I could find. I got you a good futon too." Chizome explained.

Chiyuki hummed, "Is this why you've been working so hard?"

"Partly." Chizome looked away, "I'm trying to save up some money too."

"What for?" Chiyuki asked brightly.

Chizome pat her blanketed head, "Your middle school tuition."

"Oh. Exams are coming up for that. I don't think I'll have any trouble getting into a good middle school, Nii-san." Chiyuki assured him. With a smile that didn't look quite so genuine, Chizome agreed that Chiyuki could get into any middle school she wanted.

.

"Why do we never go to your house, Shiro-chan?" Itsuka asked one day as they sat in her bedroom, drawing with the new art easel Itsuka's mom had bought. Itsuka wasn't very interested in art, but she really liked watching Chiyuki draw. Although Itsuka did find painting a lot of fun and she liked to help paint whatever Chiyuki drew out. Despite Chiyuki trying to explain to Itsuka how to blend colors and create texture, Itsuka mostly had fun filling in the lines from Chiyuki's steady hand.

Chiyuki stepped back to look at the easel, answering, "My house is a small apartment. It's not very fun."

"Oh, that's right, you live in the Yasui district, right?" Itsuka hummed, "Okaa-san doesn't want me going there."

"It's kind of scary." Chiyuki agreed, rather disinterestedly.

Gensuto looked up from where he had been reading peacefully, "Your brother taught you how to fight, is that why?"

"Yeah. And I don't really think I really know how to fight yet. Nii-san says he'll teach me how to really fight next year in middle school." Chiyuki replied with a note of happiness in her voice. Gensuto put his book down and looked at Chiyuki with a contemplative look.

Then he said, "You want to be a hero, right?"

Chiyuki nodded and Itsuka grinned, adding, "Me too! Me and Shiro-chan are going to be the best heroes!"

Gensuto looked down at his book, frowning, "That's a nice goal."

"What about you, Gen-kun?" Chiyuki inquired, "What do you want to be?"

After being quiet for a few minutes, Gensuto flipped his book to reveal he was reading a manga. Chiyuki and Itsuka crawled closer to peer at the pages. It was open to two pages that illustrated one large picture of a hero in the middle of what Chiyuki assumed to be an All Might inspired finishing move. Gensuto admitted, "Sometimes, I dream about being a hero."

"We can be a trio, then!" Itsuka declared, jumping to her feet to pose, "We need hero names!"

Gensuto frowned, "I can't be a hero."

Itsuka almost tripped. Chiyuki raised an eyebrow towards Gensuto and asked, "Why not?"

"I'll never be a good fighter. I'm scared of getting hurt and I don't have a good quirk like Big Fist or Blood Thirst." Gensuto sniffed.

"I beg to differ, Blood Thirst is a pain." Chiyuki pouted. She thought Gensuto had an excellent quirk. Being able to know who you're about to fight in the detail Gensuto's Game Data allowed was an excellent way to start a fight.

Gensuto shrugged and looked at Chiyuki with sharp eyes, "But you told us that it has 'combat potential' remember? You're also learning how to fight before anyone else. You could probably take a villain right now."

"Don't say that. If someone bigger were to come after me, even if I hit as hard as I can they can still hit harder. Besides, I think your quirk has very good combat potential too, Gen-kun. You can see the stats of the person you're about to fight. You would know if an enemy was too much for you to handle." Chiyuki pointed out, crossing her arms and leaning back against the edge of Itsuka's bed, adding, "You would always have an advantage of knowledge whereas my quirk has drawbacks and can be countered. We would both just need to learn to cover our weaknesses, as all heroes do."

Itsuka leaned forward so that she was almost nose to nose with Gensuto, "If you want to be a hero, you have to work hard!"

"I don't think I'm cut out for it." Gensuto said, shyly looking down, "Maybe I'd be better as a support, or a side kick."

Itsuka went to argue but Chiyuki spoke up, eyeing Gensuto carefully, "If you would feel better as a support or a side kick, then that's fine. You would still have a role in saving and helping people. You also wouldn't be in the spotlight, which would be good considering you're shy."

"You have a good point there, Shiro-chan." Itsuka sat back on her heels, looking at Gensuto while pressing a finger to her chin thoughtfully.

Gensuto rubbed his head, "The way you said that... makes me feel better. Thank you."

The conversation was effectively ended when the door opened and Itsuka's mom peered in, asking, "Who wants to come with me to get groceries? I'll buy ice cream."

Chiyuki was up and at the door at the word 'ice cream' before Gensuto and Itsuka had even processed what Itsuka's mom had said.

.

One weekend, Chiyuki was afflicted by her monthly trouble and was not in the mood to do anything but be a couch burrito. Chizome had other ideas, trying to get her out of bed so they could train. Chiyuki mumbled responses, wiggling out of any of Chizome's light attempts to unwrap her or pick her up.

After a while of trying to bargain with the unwilling child, Chizome offered, "I'll give you your first knife lesson."

Two red eyes peered out at him, "Promise?"

"Promise." Chizome agreed. Chiyuki took a painkiller before they left and she wore very comfy shorts. Mostly content, she followed her brother to their spot in the woods.

Her brother held up one of his smaller knives, "Knives are one of the most dangerous things you could be attacked by. Every edge of the knife could hurt you and sever something important. You are capable of healing yourself, but we still don't want to find out if you can heal a completely severed artery. Thus, today we're going to work knife defense and quirk."

Chiyuki made a sour face at the word 'quirk', "You were planning this to work on my thirst."

Chizome shrugged, grinning, "Who knows?"

"I should have stayed in my blanket." she grumbled but she followed Chizome's instructions for a warm up.

A bit later, Chizome expressed some of his concerns, "As we know your quirk allows you to enter a state where you are capable of controlling a victim at the cost of your own pain awareness and blood. Recently, most notably during this time of the month, you can enter that pain free mode with the cost of being blood thirsty and I expect in the future you'll learn how to change your state at will. This no pain state could be helpful in a fight but it's also dangerous because you may not feel a serious injury. Thus why we're going to make sure you know your way around short distance blades and next year, swords."

"This sounds like it's going to be informative, but painful." Chiyuki sighed, despite perking up and looking starry eyed at the mention of swords.

Chizome nodded, "It's going to be hard. I especially want to train during this time of the month because you need to get used to controlling yourself during your thirst. You're getting stronger, faster, and a regular person on the street wouldn't be able to get away from you if you decided to bite them in the future."

"I understand." Chiyuki said reluctantly.

The session that followed involved practicing with a real knife. Chizome was careful to not seriously hurt Chiyuki but she had long bleeding scratches at the end that she tried to heal. She was getting better with her quirk, but healing was still costly.

As Chiyuki sipped at her thermos, Chizome mentioned, "You did good today. How did the healing feel?"

"It's been getting better. I feel like every time I heal myself, I use less of my blood to do it." Chiyuki said brightly.

"And it was good we got you to force yourself into your blood lust state. You'll just have to learn how to recreate the feeling that caused it." Chizome took a cloth and cleaned off his knife.

Chiyuki hummed, "Hey, Nii-san, how did you find out what your quirk did?"

"Oh, that's a funny but short story actually." Chizome laughed with a big grin on his lips, "I got in a fight with another kid in class in preschool. I bit him and the teachers were shocked when the kid couldn't move. They called Okaa-san who put it together and said I probably had a mix of her and Otou-san's quirks. Okaa-san could bite people and release toxins that could poison or paralyze them and Otou-san was similar to your quirk, but yours is more of an advanced mutation of his."

Chiyuki nodded thoughtfully, "I figured you got in a fight."

Chizome snorted, "Gee, thanks Chi-chan."

.

Chiyuki was getting used to Chizome taking long shifts now and being home only when she left for school and when she got home from school. She had started learning how to cook while Chizome was out and the first time he came home early on a weekend to Chiyuki experimenting with his cook book, he was floored.

"Welcome home, Nii-san." Chiyuki said casually, caught red handed as she opened the small oven and pulled out the grilled teriyaki she had been trying to recreate from her brother's sloppy handwriting.

Chizome dropped his bag by where he untied his boots and he hurried around the counter to peer at the kitchen, "Chi-chan, how long have you been practicing this?"

"I started last year when you started taking longer shifts." Chiyuki demurred, "I was hoping I could make something really good for you one night when you were home but you haven't been home for meals in a long time."

Blinking, and wondering how long it had actually been since they had eaten together, Chizome sat at their table while Chiyuki presented her teriyaki to him. She took the premade dinner he had made for her out of the fridge and heated it up while Chizome watched every move she made. When she set dinner on the table and told him they could share, Chizome broke into a grin.

"When did you grow up so fast, Chi-chan?" he asked, taking his chopsticks and picking up a piece of teriyaki. He slipped it into his mouth and found that, considering a ten year old had made it, it was surprisingly well made. Chizome picked up his book to find, next to his messy scribbles, there were smaller notes in neat crisp handwriting that Chiyuki had added.

In response to his question, Chiyuki quipped, "When you made me sleep in a big girl bed."

Chizome snorted at that. He started to flip through the book, observing that Chiyuki had filled out newer pages that she had shoved in under the pages of his version of the recipe.

"I haven't really needed the recipe book in a long time so I never noticed your notes." he said, flipping through and stopping to read some of the sticky note additions.

Chiyuki nodded, "I figured as much. I've seen you add loose pages into it, but you haven't really opened the book to read the old recipes."

Chizome and Chiyuki ate a good dinner that night, both finding obvious comfort in the other's presence.

.

The final class trip for the sixth graders came up just before summer break. Chiyuki, having never had the money to go on the trips, was surprised when Chizome handed her an envelope labelled 'Trip Money' in a messy scrawl.

"Nii-san." Chiyuki whispered, looking from the envelope to him.

He gave her a strangely strained smile, "Have fun. You have a lot of tests for middle school placement during the break so you should have fun before them."

"Thank you, Nii-san!" She hugged him around his waist, and he pat her head slowly.

A few days later Chiyuki was squished on a bus seat with Itsuka while Gensuto sat with a quiet boy across from them. They chattered excitedly as the bus drove to the mountains for the nature retreat. At the mountain they would camp for the weekend and learn about the wildlife and flora. They would even have some sport events where the kids could try using their quirks.

Naturally, everyone was very excited.

The bus trip took two hours which was about the limit of everyone on the bus' patience. Everyone clambered off and the rooms in the cabins they had were divided into groups by gender. Itsuka and Chiyuki were a pair and they were paired with two other pairs for six girls in the room with one teacher. Chiyuki was a little displeased to see that Susume was in one of the pairs they were with, but she would _try_ not to hold a grudge against her.

The day they got there they went on a hike up the mountain. Most of the kids had more fun than anything else but Chiyuki, who was always interested in learning, listened attentively to their guide who spoke about the different kind of animals and flora. Chiyuki even asked questions, which the guide hadn't really expected from the rowdy bunch he had been given.

At one point the guide murmured to a teacher, "Usually we only have high school trips here. It's strange to see an elementary school student so interested in nature."

The teachers supervising them just smiled awkwardly as Chiyuki questioned the best way to differentiate poison ivy from other plants.

That night, Itsuka and Chiyuki were up late talking. While Itsuka didn't listen well to the guide with her excitement during the hike, she could always listen to Chiyuki. So Itsuka listened raptly as Chiyuki, with a smile, retold all the information she had learned that day with such excitement even Itsuka felt giddy about plants. From the group of four girls across the room, Susume gave the pair a dark look but Itsuka didn't see it and Chiyuki ignored it.

The next day they learned how to make some camp food and they gathered edible plants from the forest and the garden they kept vegetables in. Much to the guide's obvious surprise, Chiyuki had retained most of the information from the previous day and filled her basket with herbs, mushrooms, berries, and she kept coming back to ask about a different plant she had seen. The students were kept in a safe roped off area where there were no poisonous plants but the guide admired the caution Chiyuki showed. She frequently asked the guide to come see a plant, rather than touching something she wasn't sure about.

"The girl with white hair is very observant." the guide mentioned to Reiko, the school nurse who was supervising the trip. Reiko, who had been watching the students like a hawk, looked at the guide for a moment.

With a fond smile she said, "Chiyuki-kun is very smart. She's rather mature and aloof, but she has a kind heart."

"I've been doing school trips like these for a long time and I haven't had an elementary school kid so interested in what I've been saying. She's very careful, too. All the plants she hasn't been sure about she hasn't touched to bring and ask me about. I've had students pick up some poisonous plants before but she brings me to look at anything she has questions about." the guide praised while doing a quick scan of the kids, then asked, "Does she have any idea about what she wants to do in the future?"

"I've heard that she wants to be a hero." Reiko hummed as she also counted the heads in the forest to see if anyone wandered too far, "She will have a hard time, but I'm sure she can handle it."

"Why would she have a hard time? Does she have a quirk not suited to being a hero?" wondered the guide. He scanned the kids against and found that the bright white hair belonging to the girl they were talking about seemed to be absent between the greenery. He craned his head to look behind the trees but couldn't find the ponytail he was looking for.

And then there was a scream in the distance.

.

Honestly, the entire situation had been dumb in Chiyuki's opinion.

Sure, they left the roped off area. And sure she knew there was a reason they were rather heavily discouraged from leaving that area. And sure, she was aware there was potentially dangerous things out in the woods. And finally, she really should have expected Susume to be the entire problem.

Speaking of Susume, Chiyuki was getting extremely tired of her. Now she was starting to reach the age where she was more malicious than a brat.

It all started when Susume goaded them, Itsuka mostly.

"Are you too much of a baby to explore?" Susume, in a very 'Oh ho ho' voice mentioned as she slipped under the bright yellow rope, "How could someone like you be a hero?"

Itsuka scowled, "Of course I'm not a baby!"

"Susume-san. The woods are roped off for a reason." Chiyuki warned, but Susume laughed at that.

Gensuto, rather meekly, murmured, "Yuki-chan is usually right. We shouldn't leave this area."

"Then be like that. I am going to be brave." Susume said, taking off into the woods.

Chiyuki breathed in sharply, "We should... probably go after her."

"Why?" Gensuto, eyes darting between Chiyuki and where Susume had disappeared.

"The guide mentioned dangerous bugs, remember? And plants we shouldn't touch. We should get her back before she does something stupid, like get a bite from the wrong bug." Chiyuki muttered crossly as she slipped under the rope, checking to see where the teachers were looking. She dove between the trees and Gensuto, complaining quietly, followed. Itsuka didn't hesitate, instead silently ghosting behind Chiyuki with a grin on her face.

"This," Itsuka said a few moments later, "Is our first mission as heroes."

"A rescue mission." Chiyuki affirmed, adding rather sourly, "Although, at this point I wouldn't mind if we failed."

"Susume-san is rather mean to you." Gensuto agreed, trying to jump between the plants and almost yelping when he thought he saw poison ivy. Gensuto was not one for the outdoors, it seemed.

About a minute or two of walking found them traversing through bright yellow colored plants and Chiyuki, eyeing them pensively warned, "Whatever you do, try not to touch these plants."

"Already doing that." Gensuto muttered under his breath, while Itsuka brightly chirped, "Yes sir, Shiro-Hero!"

Chiyuki snorted at the name, then laughed when Gensuto nearly tripped over a root and had to catch his glasses from slipping off his face.

"Why couldn't our year have been the beach trip." he whimpered, "Crabs and fish and sand I can deal with. Not plants that can give me a rash or bugs that can bite me."

"Crabs could pinch you." Itsuka pointed out and Gensuto shot her a look. She just laughed cheerfully and trouped through the greens like she didn't care. Which she probably didn't. Chiyuki doubted Itsuka was worried about anything like ticks or spiders, certainly not like the nervous Gensuto.

After another moment, they entered what was like a clearing in the forest where the grass was mostly short and there were rocks around the trees. Gensuto, upon seeing Susume watching them with a haughty look on her face and her hands on her hips, shot for the rocks to stand on. Chiyuki frowned at the plants, and then closed her eyes when she saw Susume was holding one of the yellow flowers.

"Susume-san," Chiyuki began carefully, staring at the girl from between her eyelashes as she slowly advanced towards her, "Put that flower down."

"Why? I like it. It's very pretty." Susume leaned in, as if to sniff the flower.

Chiyuki thought the spider that chose that moment to peek out of the petals was laughing at her. Susume, eyes catching the rather bright coloring of the small spider, squealed in disgust and thrust the flower forward into Chiyuki's chest. Losing sight of the spider was one of the most heart wrenching moments in her second life thus far. Chiyuki looked over her own bare limbs, finding nothing. Susume was fine.

She turned slowly, and she caught the color in Itsuka's hair.

"Don't move." Chiyuki warned Itsuka lowly, momentarily shivering as she picked up a leaf to urge the spider onto it. After a tense second the spider crawled onto the yellow leaf and Chiyuki slowly brought it away from Itsuka.

"Shiro-chan." Itsuka whispered, "Your arm."

Chiyuki looked from the leaf, where the spider sat innocently, and swore when she saw another one crawling pleasantly down onto her skin from the fabric of her shirt. She dropped the leaf, and slowly debated what to do.

The spider was indeed dangerous, and Chiyuki expected this little guy was the reason they were roped off a good distance away. It was a bright color which Chiyuki took as meaning it was venomous, but exactlyhow venomous? Was the spider dangerous only to children? If it bit her, how long would she have to get to the hospital? What were the symptoms? Or was the spider poisonous, and was its touch killing her slowly? No, no Chiyuki was sure that wasn't it. She would have felt the change in her body if that were it.

Then she felt it. The spider was still and Chiyuki felt the tiny drops of _something_ in her blood. The harm already done, Chiyuki swatted the bug off her arm.

Gensuto swung his arms around the tree and held for dear life, yelping, "You're poisoned!"

"What?" Susume barked, looking between Chiyuki's arm that had a small red dot that was swelling already. Watching the bite, with eyes as wide as plates, Itsuka put a hand to her mouth. Gensuto was tearing up, not blinking as he looked on in horror.

In that moment, Chiyuki thought to herself, fuck you spider, this is my blood.

Itsuka screamed the perfect earsplitting horror movie scream when Chiyuki forced every bit of contaminated blood and poison out of her body. It was like Chiyuki had shot tiny needles out of her skin, bloody specks appearing and then shooting off quickly into the air. The bite itself, now swelling because Chiyuki was focusing the area, bulged horrifically and in another second, burst. Chiyuki thought it looked, rather grotesquely, like what would happen if a creature came bursting out of someone in a horror movie. The way her arm squirted had Itsuka turning green in the next moment and she turned, emptying the contents of her stomach. Susume had stumbled backwards, horrified, and took off in the direction of the roped area.

Eyes wide, and aware that she couldn't feel the gouge in her arm but also unable to feel any more toxin in her body, Chiyuki asked, "Gen-kun, status?"

"Uh, well, you aren't poisoned anymore...?" was the weak response. Gensuto, releasing the tree and stepping around the plants very carefully, approached. He added, "I guess? Uh, I mean I just found out I can apparently see that. I've never seen someone poisoned before, but you had the status ailment for poison. And now it's gone."

Satisfied, Chiyuki shook her arm off and found the spider that had caused this on the ground. She stomped on it, then found the one she had rescued from Itsuka's hair and murdered that one too for good measure. All the while she directed the gouge to heal on her arm before she left a thin cut. Around the cut was a discolored scar that Chiyuki eyed thoughtfully. She had never scarred before, was it the result of the toxin? Was it because she had forced a good portion of her own blood out?

"How's my HP?"

"Not... bad. 102 out of 180."

"Alright, so some of that is probably this, some of it is probably lost blood, and some of it might be leftover damage I didn't feel like healing." Chiyuki nodded slowly, then bit her tongue until she tasted blood.

Gensuto yelped, "100."

"As expected. If anyone asks, Itsuka screamed because she saw a spider and I scraped myself falling and was healing it." Chiyuki smiled at her friends.

Itsuka, eyes horrified, quietly looked away and nodded. Gensuto took in Chiyuki as she stood amongst the flowers and the smile on her lips truly terrified both of her friends. Gensuto looked like he wanted to say something but they heard rustling and yelling, and in a moment the nurse and camp guide were with them. Reiko hurried to Itsuka, and the camp guide looked at Chiyuki with a guarded expression.

But the white haired girl simply smiled at him, red eyes flickering to the nurse, "Reiko-sensei, do you have my thermos? I'm awfully thirsty after healing this scrape."

.

As they walked back towards the camp, the guide and Reiko whispered to each other in angry hisses while Reiko held Itsuka comfortingly under one arm. Chiyuki wasn't really focusing on them as she watched Gensuto play the floor is lava, except with the plants being lava.

"Gen-kun, we're away from the area with the spiders. We just made the mistake of going in there." Chiyuki pointed out quietly. She took a sip from her thermos, feeling the blood enter her blood stream as she swallowed. She didn't feel overly drained, which was good. She was getting better. She still felt a bit sluggish though, as if she were overcoming a bad cold.

Gensuto continued to dance around all the vegetation, a feat considering they were walking in the woods. After watching him struggle for a path, Chiyuki offered, "Want me to carry you?"

Her mind was wandering as they walked back. She thought about Susume, and how she didn't even feel bad that she was considering that she should have just left her with the could be such a pain, she thought tiredly after realizing the spider could have been more dangerous than she thought. They were all old enough to be malicious now. Ten years old, some of the grade turning eleven already. Chiyuki missed the younger kids, at least they were dumb but pure.

"No. Your HP is low." Gensuto replied after a moment, leaping rather far to get from one rock to a patch of clear dirt. She took another swig of her thermos.

"It's not that bad. I feel fine." Chiyuki laughed. To be fair, she had just squirted more blood out of her arm than either child had probably ever seen.

Frowning at the ground Gensuto said, "130 out of 180. That's still a lot of points missing." Then he whispered, "Also your sleeve and the front of your shirt has blood on it and I don't want to touch that." Chiyuki didn't hear that part.

"That's not even half! I'm probably not even missing a fourth of my blood now with my thermos. I know my limits don't worry. Get on my back." Chiyuki stood in the middle of where Gensuto would have had to jump next to keep up. Complaining, Gensuto jumped on her back and was clearly surprised when Chiyuki easily kept moving.

She grinned, "Don't forget my brothers been training me. My numbers are awesome now."

Gensuto rolled his eyes, "Your level 20 is pretty impressive for a ten year old. You gained some MP just before but I think you lost a physical point."

"Leveling up the quirk. Nice. That lost point might just be the scar." Chiyuki remarked, "To be honest, while I was terrified when the spider bit me, now I'm kind of glad."

Horrified, Gensuto demanded dramatically but quietly, "How could you be glad you almost _died_?"

"I was nowhere near dying." Chiyuki demurred, laughing under her breath as she explained under her breath, "It was nerve wracking, I'll admit. I never thought about how I could use my blood to push out something like poison. I never expected to _be poisoned_ , of course. Nor have I ever had to heal anything more than small cuts and bruises. But I figured I could push all the venom out since I can control my blood. Then I realized the application of my healing could be used to destroy the venom. Destroying the venom didn't cost any blood, aside from destroying the contaminated cell. What else could I do with my healing and control, though? I never thought to think beyond cuts and bruises!"

"Please don't poison yourself again to find out." Gensuto begged.

With a mirthful smile Chiyuki sang, "No promises~"

She wondered if her brother's confident attitude was rubbing off on her. Certainly, years ago she wouldn't have wanted to test her quirk out like this.

.

After some school politics Chiyuki didn't experience other than Reiko promising punishment for leaving the boundary, Chiyuki had fun scaring the life out of Susume. Entering the cabin covered in her own blood while Itsuka fretted over her, Chiyuki gave Susume the stink eye and made a show of her bloody clothes. Itsuka was still queasy and wary that her friend would keel over at any second. Susume seemed a little regretful but that quickly went away in a few minutes when Chiyuki was clearly fine.

After washing up Chiyuki tried to get the blood out of her clothes and wondered how she was going to explain these stains to her brother when she got home. Throwing out the clothes meant he would potentially notice them missing, but the blood stains were probably worse for him to find.

"Are you gonna tell your brother?" Itsuka asked, hugging her pillow to her chest as Chiyuki held up the damp shirt she had been wearing.

Chiyuki shrugged, laying the shirt to dry over the side of her bed, "Not sure. I'll probably tell him a less scary version. Something like, 'I got bit by something and felt the bug bite in my blood so I got it out! Cool right!' instead of 'Hey, I got bit by a venomous spider that could have had me in the hospital if I didn't have my quirk. Good thing I have my quirk!' since I don't want him to freak out."

Itsuka nodded slowly, "I was scared."

"It all ended up fine." Chiyuki told her, "I'm in control of my body."

"I know you are. I just, there was so much blood. I've never seen so much blood outside of, well, horror movies and anime." Itsuka admitted, "I thought you were going to die in front of me."

Chiyuki nodded thoughtfully as she folded up the shirt with a sigh, "I understand your fears. I'm sorry I scared you like that."

"Sometimes it's annoying how you say that." Itsuka said, putting her face into her pillow.

Chiyuki raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"I understand." Itsuka complained into the pillow, "You sound like a stuffy adult."

"Oh, really? Huh, what else could I say then?" Chiyuki wondered.

"You don't always need to say you understand. Sometimes people will just know that you got it." Itsuka explained, "Doesn't your brother not like when you do that too?"

"I guess I got into the habit, since most people don't expect us kids to understand." Chiyuki put the shirt away. She supposed she did sound like a know it all brat if she always tried to say 'I understand'.

Itsuka rolled onto her back and hugged her pillow tighter, whispering, "After today, it feels like we aren't going to be kids much longer."

.

When Chiyuki returned home she told her brother all about the trip. She mentioned mean Susume and then spun the story about her crazy bug bite and how she used her quirk and it was so cool! But bloody, as her quirk was, and here was a bloodied shirt.

"You really messed this shirt up." Chizome mentioned as he unfolded it and held it up, "I think we're gonna have to trash this one."

"Aw, I brought it home hoping you could fix it. Maybe if we bleach it?" Chiyuki offered.

Chizome shook his head, "That would just make it splotchy and stain the rest of the shirt. It was old anyway and you'll need new clothes soon."

Tossing the shirt in the trash, Chiyuki unpacked the rest of her things and happily put some of the crafts they had made around the apartment to spruce things up a bit. Chizome admired them when he passed as he did general housework. They cooked dinner together with Chiyuki dutifully making her favorite food, fried rice. She liked vegetable fried rice, she liked pork fried rice, she liked any fried rice. She loved it with onions in it and she liked a little bit of extra egg.

Chizome took a bite and wrinkled his nose, "Too much onion."

"Not enough onion." Chiyuki retorted, "I put half an onion in."

Chizome made a face, "Too much for just the two of us. Next time just use a quarter so I can taste the rest of the ingredients without crying."

Despite their bickering they sat down and enjoyed the meal together.

.

Summer break came quickly and with it, middle school exams.

Itsuka, Gensuto and Chiyuki met up at Gensuto's house to exchange their top three preferences with each other before exams.

"Oh, this a really good middle school." Itsuka pointed at Chiyuki's number one.

Gensuto hummed and pointed at his paper, "My mom wants me to go to these. But I like this one best."

Chiyuki made a face at the cost of the exams, "Gen-kun, I don't think I'll be able to afford either of those three."

"Here here!" Itsuka slammed her paper down and grinned at Gensuto, "I picked my favorite because I thought it was for smart kids like Shiro-chan, nerdy kids like Gen-kun, and it has a hero club! I think I can get the scores to manage so both of you will definitely pass the exam."

Itsuka didn't say it but as Chiyuki looked at the price of the exam, she bet Itsuka had searched for one with a lower cost for her.

Nodding thoughtfully, Chiyuki gestured to her list and explained, "I picked my top choice because while it is more expensive than I'd like, it's reputable. My second choice is cheaper but still good. My third is the cheapest school that isn't a low grade middle school."

"I think we're all capable of passing the tests." Itsuka stated firmly, "Which school are we going to aim for?"

"I don't think my mom will let me go to any but these three." Gensuto admitted, "She seems to think the more expensive, the better."

"That's generally true." Chiyuki agreed passively.

Itsuka huffed, "Well it's your middle school so tell her to shove it."

Chiyuki barked out a laugh and Itsuka looked towards her, but then anywhere but directly at her.

Tilting her head to the side Chiyuki inquired politely, "Itsu-chan, is something bothering you?"

Itsuka shook her head slowly. Gensuto made a face, likely picking up on the same thing Chiyuki was, and Chiyuki added, more firmly this time, "Why won't you look at my face?"

"Sorry, Shiro-chan." Itsuka bowed her head, "Ever since camp, your eyes make me feel uncomfortable and sad. I, I remember what you did and your eyes are so _red_."

Chiyuki nodded, "I under-uh, I get it. My eyes remind you of blood."

Itsuka flinched at the mention. Chiyuki bowed her head now, mournfully apologizing, "I'm sorry Itsu-chan."

"I'll get over it. But just, for now, sometimes I can still see your arm squirting and I can smell it again, and, and just for now. I'll get over it, I promise Shiro-chan."

Chiyuki went home that day feeling rather dismal.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I had a very difficult time trying to find a way to show Gensuto can see status ailments, begin Itsuka's aversion to blood, and show Chiyuki's first case of out of the box quirk thinking. This version of the spider is much less edgy than the first version, but now I have a fun omake/alternate version. I really don't want to have every chapter have a big point of action in it, but with how long each chapter ends up being I end up throwing in the next major quirk point and I feel like Chiyuki's quirk is so damn dramatic.**

 **Regardless, I'm having fun. I return to college in the next two weeks so updates might be slooow. Chapter 5 is actually done though, and 8k words, I just need to revise it, so maybe that will go up in September? Or maybe sooner.**

 **Fun Fact : Chiyuki was named Chiyuki for Chi, Blood and Yuki, Snow. Red eyes and white hair. Blood quirk.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **The Wandering Mage Rei (3x)  
subjectnineteen  
SesshyxKagomeLover  
Prince  
Dance of the Damned**


	5. The Sister Finishes a Chapter in Life

**Thicker Than Blood**

 _Chapter 5_

 _The Sister Finishes a Chapter in Life_

* * *

Middle school exams were tougher than Chiyuki expected.

She took every middle school exam that was free to take. Itsuka was applying to a few nicer middle schools and there were greater fees on those tests but Chizome gave her the money and she took them too. Gensuto had taken those exams and his mother also put him through the exams for middle schools that were expensive as hell and clearly intended for richer, snootier people, but his family was rather well off and Gensuto didn't like to disobey his mom. They all took the exam for the school with the hero club and internally, Chiyuki was sure they all prayed for that one.

But once the exams were over the three were allowed to go out to the arcade for some fun. Armed with the pocket change that was her allowance, Chiyuki destroyed Itsuka at most games but found Gensuto a difficult opponent in others.

Gensuto laughed when Chiyuki demanded a rematch in a fighting game, "You're challenging someone with a video game quirk, Yuki-chan."

"Gamer eyes don't help you with actual video games though!" Chiyuki insisted, shoving coins into both slots. Gensuto took a ready position.

He smirked, "Yeah but I've played a _lot_ of video games."

In the end, Chiyuki had to concede victory to Gensuto. Her motor skills and hand eye coordination were better than both his and Itsuka's, but that was because she trained with her brother in ways children generally didn't train. Gensuto had the upper hand in being a video game nerd and with his family being more affluent, he had a lot of video games. A _lot_ of video games.

Gensuto bid the girls a good night as they split to walk back towards their houses. Gensuto lived in the nicest neighborhood around and Itsuka lived in the average neighborhood next to what was essentially the slums of the city. Chiyuki didn't mind living in the slums after living there for so long and getting to know most of the people who lived there. Even some of the more villain inclined criminals were familiar faces for her but she didn't normally speak to them.

"Today was fun. I hope we all go to the same middle school." Itsuka mentioned brightly, eyes not focusing on Chiyuki.

Chiyuki agreed rather happily, "I think our test scores will be high. We all worked hard for those exams."

As dusk was falling Itsuka skipped along merrily. The stars weren't visible from the pollution caused by the industrial district of Hosu City but Itsuka still brightened every time the light of an airplane cut through the sky.

"Shiro-chan, I've been thinking recently." Itsuka began in a drawl, slowing her pace to walk beside her friend. Chiyuki blinked at her and Itsuka looked everywhere but at Chiyuki's face.

"Is something wrong?" Chiyuki inquired, looking away. It hurt, in a small way, that Itsuka wouldn't look at her.

"Well, ah, you know. I've been thinking about how to look you in the eye again." Itsuka admitted. She clenched her fists tightly, a determined but nervous expression on her face.

"Oh, did you think of something?" asked Chiyuki brightly.

Itsuka looked down at her feet, "My mom suggested therapy."

Chiyuki frowned, "I'm so sorry Itsu-chan. I didn't mean to," Chiyuki paused as she tried to think of what to say in this situation, "I wouldn't have done what I did if I had known you would have been so affected by it."

"You did what you had to. I would be much sadder if my best friend was, well, was dead." Itsuka replied quietly.

Chiyuki laughed shortly, "I wouldn't have died. It was just a spider. I think everyone was just freaking out over nothing."

Itsuka quietly mentioned, "Reiko-sensei was terrified. The guide was whispering such frightening things."

"I'll always be fine, don't you worry Itsu-chan. I'll learn how to do all that without making such a bloody show. We're all still young and our quirks are still leading us around by the noses. But when I'm a hero I won't be spurting blood and scaring all the kids." Chiyuki promised.

Itsuka smiled, "When were both heroes, everything will be perfect."

"Of course. All three of us will be together. Me, you, and even Gen-kun."

.

Chizome stared impassively at Chiyuki.

Sheepishly, Chiyuki said, "Uh, whoops?"

Two pairs of red eyes flicked to the palm of her hand where a knife was lodged right through her hand. She was in Blood Thirst so she didn't feel anything. She was rather glad she couldn't feel anything but Chizome looked very disgruntled with her.

"Chi-chan, your awareness and focus are slipping when you're in Blood Thirst. You _can not_ allow your mind to wander when you can't feel anything." Chizome chastised in concern, "I'm going to pull this knife out. Heal it and let me know if you can continue after healing something that big."

Chiyuki did as she was told, trying to feel out how much blood it took to heal a severe wound through her hand. The answer was more than she would have liked. She sipped at her thermos afterwards, trying to explain to her brother about how she thought it would potentially be a good idea to let her get injured during knife training if she made a mistake so she could practice healing.

Chizome put his hands on both of her shoulders and knelt down to her level, "Akaguro Chiyuki. That is the dumbest thing you've ever said."

"It's a good idea!" Chiyuki retorted, offended and ready to argue back, "The more I heal, the more serious wounds I heal, the better I will be able to heal in the future!"

"Wrong. We are building up your quirk slowly. You need to walk before you can run. We do not know if you can heal major injuries yet. You can heal cuts. Bruises. You can heal a knife through your hand. However you currently look ready to fall over after healing that and you've been drinking blood this entire time." Chizome's eyes softened when he was finished, and he ran a hand through his hair.

Then he pat her head.

He smiled softly, "Besides, I could never hurt you intentionally even if it were so you could heal yourself."

.

Susume picked a fight with Chiyuki one day that almost ended in a fist fight.

Art class was when Chiyuki was mostly allowed to feel like she did in her previous life. She enjoyed the cute crafts the school had them do, and mostly amazed the art teacher when they learned color wheels and Chiyuki knew more advanced color theory than just what a primary color is and what a secondary color is. Generally, art time was when Chiyuki relaxed and allowed herself to refrain from thinking about how she would become a strong hero.

Something Chiyuki was rather vain about in this life was her hair. She had long pure white hair that she tied in a long high ponytail. She would fight her brother whenever he trimmed the dead ends off and tried to cut too much. White hair was a tedious thing to take care of though. She had to wash it nearly daily because it collected grime like nothing else. Dirt, dust, leaves, blood, everything rubbed off on and into her hair. With her hair the only thing she was vain about, Chiyuki kept care of it.

Susume, luckily, thought it was funnier to pulled back the bristles on her brush and catapult a spray of red paint into Chiyuki's hair as opposed to teasing her with scissors.

If she had decided to threat her with scissors, well, things wouldn't have ended well for her. Chiyuki would have first taken those scissors and then would have had to hold back on the temptation to give Susume a nice bald head. There would certainly have been some kind of casualty there, whether Susume's hair or her life.

Itsuka's jaw dropped when Susume, walking past their table, splattered the red paint into Chiyuki's hair. Chiyuki took a moment to process, uttered something that sounded a lot like 'This bitch' under her breath, and stood up so fast the chair screeched. Susume pivoted on her heels as Chiyuki pushed her hand into the thick green paint she had been using and, with the speed her brother had been teaching her, ran her hand down from Susume's nose all down her shirt.

It was funnier to watch Susume's own jaw drop when her spitting fury caused her to have a beak instead of lips.

"Did you-you just-" Susume sputtered.

Itsuka had a hand over her mouth as she looked away from Chiyuki's red speckled back. Chiyuki, very unamused, demurred, "If you don't want to lose a fight, don't start one."

Susume growled and looked like she was about to jump on Chiyuki but the teacher was between them, holding them apart as the class representative was sent to get another teacher.

.

The principal looked between Chiyuki and Susume. Their respective guardians had been called to the school, Chizome looking more amused than anything else and Susume's father looked distinctly unimpressed.

"-so as Susume-kun started the fight, I think it would be best she begin with an apology." the principal finished, leaning back and putting his hands together on his desk. Susume, feathers still ruffled and in existence, harrumphed and crossed her arms. Susume's father closed his eyes.

"Susu-chan, apologize or else." her father stated.

Susume's head pivoted to look at her father so fast, Chiyuki swore she heard her neck crack. With a confused squawk, Susume protested, "But daddy!"

"You started the fight." her father retorted, "My princess doesn't start fights."

Susume looked between her father and Chiyuki before she stuck her back up and refused, "I will not apologize to a bloody little freak."

"If you don't apologize, you won't be attending the middle school you picked out." Susume's father replied, opening his eyes to glance at his daughter.

Susume's jaw dropped and she clearly thought about it for a moment. But she was more stubborn than anything else so she stayed quiet and firm. She refused to acknowledge anyone else.

Finally, with a sigh, Susume's father stood and bowed to Chizome, "I apologize for my daughter's actions and attitude." and then he turned to Chiyuki and bowed again, "And I apologize for her words towards you and for her putting paint in your hair." Chiyuki was silent, and she looked at her brother for his input. It took him a moment to realize she wasn't saying anything.

"Chi-chan? You're old enough to decide if you accept the apology." Chizome informed her as he folded his arms and leaned back, rather relaxed for the situation.

Chiyuki eyed Susume, "I accept your father's apology." She rocked her head for a moment, looking pensively at Susume. She weighed the odds of something, then said, "But you're a bitch and I hope you fail middle school."

.

"You have half a year left and you had to get yourself suspended." Chizome groaned as they walked back home early that afternoon.

Susume had almost went after Chiyuki, which had prompted the principal to use his quirk to separate the two girls before they got into a physical fight. Chiyuki told the adults that she wouldn't apologize no matter the punishment, and the principal decided a suspension was a good punishment for her. He wanted to punish Susume the same way but Susume's father, calm, asked the principal not to punish Susume as she would be regretting her decisions when he chose what middle school she would be attending.

Shrugging with a grin that had been permanently etched on her lips ever since she saw the shocked look on Susume's face when her father dragged her out, Chiyuki replied, "Susume-san deserved it. I've never done anything to her and all she does is harass me and my friends. I won't have to see her in a few months though, so I can live with her a while longer."

Chizome grumbled, "I know you aren't usually like that, but Chi-chan now I need to find some way to punish you."

"Aw, why?" Chiyuki pouted.

"Did you really just ask why?" Chizome retorted, "You just called another kid a bitch in front of me, the principal, and the kid's parent."

"She deserved it." Chiyuki huffed in a much more childish tone than she usually used, "Besides, I've already been suspended."

"Yeah, like you care about that. Let me think, maybe as punishment you have to come to the gym with me in the morning." Chizome gave a dramatized maniacal laugh, "Yes, I think that's a great idea."

"Boo, the gym sounds boring." Chiyuki complained. Her brother ruffled her hair and she swatted at him when he pulled at her ponytail.

"It won't be too bad. I know your least favorite part of lessons is the workout, and the gym will be a great workout and a great punishment." Chizome looked like he thought himself a genius for thinking of this idea.

That night Chiyuki tried to sabotage Chizome by hiding a stuffed animal under his blankets, which he threw at her in the middle of the night when he couldn't figure out why his futon was lumpy. He called her a sore loser, to which she cackled from under all her other plush animals, blankets and pillows.

.

The gym, as Chiyuki expected, wasn't fun. She was truthfully very surprised when the receptionist let her in, but she supposed her brother was a regular so the receptionist looked the other way. She followed her brother obediently to a few machines and copied what he did after he set weights for her.

Then they got to the treadmill.

"I hate running." Chiyuki complained as she tried to speed walk the treadmill. She watched her brother continue to raise the number until she had a firm grip on the handles and was running to keep herself from getting launched. He clipped the emergency clip onto the front of her shirt and he leaned against the sidebar to supervise.

Chiyuki made a noise of exhausted protest when he started an incline.

"This is how you get faster. And better cardio." Chizome retorted, "You get a break after this. Then I'll let you fight me in the boxing ring."

The response he got was an unintelligible "Hrnnggh-kaaahh."

True to his word, after he made her run until she felt like her body was made of jelly and her heart and lungs were burning, he gave her a short break on the bench by the boxing ring as they watched a larger, energetic man beat the hell out of someone. The man had given a cheerful greeting to Chizome, who rather grumpily returned the greeting.

"Dih yuh mahy a frehn?" Chiyuki questioned through sips of her water bottle. Chizome shrugged after he deciphered the question to be 'Did you make a friend?'

"We spar." he answered vaguely.

Perking up, Chiyuki began with a new vigor, "Is he the one who-"

"I'll make you run again if you bring that up." Chizome warned and Chiyuki shut up almost instantaneously. But that clearly confirmed to her that yes, that was the man who had beat the shit out of her brother a few times.

In the boxing ring a few minutes later when the two men were finished, the employee looked almost pained when he saw Chiyuki jump into the ring beside Chizome.

"You were supposed to be the rule follower." the employee groaned under his breath.

Chizome clearly heard him and shrugged, "This is my sister. She's training to be a hero."

"She's like, ten!" the employee argued.

Chiyuki quipped, "Good eye."

The employee didn't find that very funny but he backed off as Chizome helped Chiyuki put on headgear and boxing gloves. When he didn't put on headgear, Chiyuki frowned, "Nii-san I don't want to hurt you."

"If you hurt me, I won't make you run tomorrow." Chizome told her, rather cocky.

Chiyuki perked up, "Nii-san, I'm going to hurt you."

Chizome laughed. In the end, Chizome won and the next day Chiyuki had to run for a minute longer than the previous day.

.

Her suspension lasted only a few days, and on the last day she was at the gym, Chizome added something to her schedule.

"You are going to jog every morning before school. If you don't want to get up early, you can do it before it gets dark at night." Chizome informed her as they made lunch together after returning from the gym. Chopping quickly and deftly, Chiyuki made a noise of disgruntled acceptance. She hissed when her distraction caused her to cut herself but her brother just sighed as she forced the wound to knit itself back together.

"The jog isn't punishment. You'll hate it now but when you're as fast as me in a few years you'll be thankful." Chizome preached and Chiyuki rolled her eyes. She picked up the cutting board to slide her diced vegetables into the waiting frying pan.

Chiyuki agreed quietly, "I'm sure it has multiple benefits."

"It does. Speed. Endurance. Discipline. It's great as a cool down exercise and when you're taller I'll even teach you some parkour and free running techniques." Chizome promised.

"When I'm taller." Chiyuki grumbled.

Chizome laughed, "Yes. And you need more strength in your body to make higher jumps.

"Fine!" Chiyuki conceded, "I understand the benefits of running. I'll do a daily jog."

And she did. Every morning Chiyuki woke up before the sun to get a jog in before school from that day forward.

.

Towards the very end of the school year Chiyuki, Gensuto, and Itsuka met with each other the day they had all received their test scores. Chiyuki had aced every test, as had Gensuto, and Itsuka had passed all the ones that she cared about. They spent the day at the arcade again after comparing scores, Itsuka preferring the dance games to the fighting games. She still couldn't look Chiyuki in the eyes, but Chiyuki didn't blame her. Chiyuki would never blame Itsuka for that.

"Which middle school then?" Itsuka asked as the trio sat on a bench watching the sun go down at the park.

Kicking his feet, Gensuto mentioned, "My mother insists on Gekkou Private."

"That one is..." Chiyuki began slowly, not wanting to bring up that one was ridiculously expensive in case Gensuto liked the school. Itsuka did it for her, ending grimly, "Too expensive."

"I know." Gensuto looked down at his hands, "I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you two. But, but my mother."

"Did you explain you want to go to middle school with your friends?" Chiyuki suggested quietly.

Gensuto nodded, "Mother says you don't make friends until high school. That we won't even remember each other when we make other friends."

"Your mother is an idiot." Itsuka huffed, making Chiyuki snort and Gensuto sputter, she continued, "We're best friends. We're going to be a hero trio. I already decided our names."

Gensuto laughed, "And what would those names be?"

Itsuka stood up, pointing to herself with her thumb, "Big Fist!" then to Gensuto with her pointer finger, "Gamer Guy!" and then Chiyuki's body, "Shirogami!"

"Shirogami." Chiyuki repeated, blinking one eye at a time slowly as she let it settle, "So, kind of like 'White reaper' then?"

Nodding brightly Itsuka explained, "I thought of it because I call you Shiro-chan and you really like the anime Nekogami and I think you would be cool with a scythe."

"Nii-san is going to teach me swords and knives." Chiyuki responded, very amused by the entire thing. Shirogami also sounded like a respectable name in her mind, especially considering it came from an eleven year old.

Itsuka paused to consider the idea of swords and knives, then nodded solemnly, "Swords are still cool. Learn a scythe later then."

Gensuto, who had been processing 'Gamer Guy' the entire time, finally added, "Gamer Guy sounds..."

"Awesome?" Itsuka offered.

Shaking his head, Gensuto retorted, "Lame."

"Aw but both start with G!" Itsuka pointed out. Gensuto wasn't very impressed with that argument. That conversation line died quickly enough.

"Back to middle school talk, sadly enough." Chiyuki mentioned, "I need to ask Nii-san about our budget."

"Okaa-san really likes the school I picked with the hero club." Itsuka added, still shooting Gensuto a dirty look for insulting her name.

"Mother didn't like that one." Gensuto replied, sounding sad.

Itsuka pressed her lips together, "Look on the bright side. Even if we don't end up in the same middle schools, we can still see each other."

"That's true." Chiyuki conceded, "It would be nice though."

The other two agreed immediately.

.

Gensuto split from Chiyuki and Itsuka as the two girls turned onto the shortcut that would take them around the edge of the Yasui district. They waved to Gensuto until they couldn't see him anymore. The girls walked in an awkward silence as they went. Itsuka looked everywhere but Chiyuki.

"Mom wants me to do therapy next year." Itsuka finally stated, "I want to look my best friend in the eye again, so I want to go too."

Chiyuki blinked, and turned to look at Itsuka. Her mouth was already open, a grateful response starting to come out. But everything quickly seemed to slow down.

Red eyes widened as big hands wrapped around Itsuka's arm and head, pressing over her mouth and yanking her back into a shady alley. Chiyuki didn't hesitate to follow into the alley and got a good look at the man holding her friend. He was the usual thug she saw around the neighborhood, occasionally getting apprehended by bored heroes. She doubted he even deserved the moniker of villain.

Chiyuki focused real quick when, what the fuck the guys fingers t _urned into knives_ (The inappropriate thought of 'Hello Edward Knifehands' immediately flashed in her mind and she forced it away) and the blades dug into Itsuka's neck. Big teal eyes stared at her, glassy from tears and sheer terror. Chiyuki brought her hands up, fingers open as she forced herself to tremble. Part of her trembling was from genuine fear, but Chiyuki was more angry than anything else.

"Scream, an' I cut 'er throat." the thug told her, "Where did tha' rich boy go?"

"He lives in a different direction." Chiyuki answered carefully.

The villain changed his arms so he had Itsuka in a head lock with his knife fingers curled against the side of her face. He scratched his head with his now free hand and seemed to think for a moment.

"Damn it." he eyed Chiyuki for a moment, then Itsuka, "You two. Got any money on ya?"

"Pocket change." Chiyuki answered, reaching slowly for her pocket to produce a pitiful amount of coins.

"Fuckin' idiot bastard, missin' the rich brat leave. Fine, lil'girls go for money." the thug huffed. Itsuka made a noise as the thug pressed on her throat and cut off her air.

Chiyuki's body acted before her mind could consider the repercussions to charging forward. The thug was faster than she expected for someone she had been mentally comparing to a grunt. He threw Itsuka like she weighed nothing and she hit the alley wall with a crack that echoed in Chiyuki's mind. The thug sliced forward with his hands and Chiyuki, glad her brother had taught her how to slip and redirect, only felt her forearms get cut as she got under the thugs arm and redirected his knife fingers away from her.

Knife Hands turned around quickly, eyeing her for a split second before swiping at a side angle towards her now. Chiyuki stepped backwards with each swing, eyes following the blades as she tried to figure out how to time a counter on a real attack. Her brother had never had the intention of hurting her before, and she wasn't sure she could do anything with how fast the thug was moving.

She heard a clang and felt the garbage can behind her. Her instincts screamed and she let her body drop, knives barely missing her head as she felt the lid of the trashcan and grabbed it by the edge. She swung it upwards then kicked towards his groin. She knew she made contact when she heard a grunt of pain and she crawled under him. Itsuka, leaning against the wall, was bleeding from her head and watching her with glassy eyes.

Chiyuki reached towards her, then felt a hand grab her ponytail.

That was one of the last things she could recall that wasn't bathed in red.

.

Itsuka was hurting in a way she had never hurt before. Her pounding head felt like nothing compared to the intense feeling in her left arm. She couldn't feel her fingers on that arm, but her right one was fine. When she had first hit the wall, everything had exploded. Her vision had changed colors, all sound stopped, and she couldn't really remember what happened between her hitting the wall and her opening her eyes.

But when she was able to focus again, she was able to see Chiyuki reaching for her. Chiyuki, her dear friend with those redred eyes wide, as the man with knives for hands grabbed her by her ponytail and pulled her into the air. Chiyuki kicked her feet immediately, her hands at the base of her ponytail to try and stop the pulling. Itsuka's ears were working again, and she could hear Chiyuki spitting and cursing.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Chiyuki howled, and the thug looked rather amused.

He shook her, then laughed when she tried to spit at him and the spit barely hit his pants. Chiyuki tried to claw at his arms but his knife fingers were in the way and she was clearly getting very mad. Itsuka's gaze was stuck on her friend as Chiyuki's eyes started to get a crazed glow to them.

Chiyuki saw _red_.

Itsuka wouldn't know what Chiyuki had been thinking that entire time. She wouldn't know that Chiyuki's only thoughts were on how to kill this man for touching Itsuka. She wouldn't know Chiyuki thought back to the moment she had burst blood out of her arm. And Itsuka wouldn't have been able to connect that moment to the time Chiyuki had learned that her blood was stronger infecting someone than when she ingested someones blood.

All Itsuka knew, all she saw, was Chiyuki's chest explode into a few bloody splatters that hit Knife Hands and burrowed into his body. Knife Hands dropped Chiyuki almost immediately, his body contorting as Chiyuki landed on her knees and grinned like something possessed. Itsuka was hardly aware as Chiyuki reached for the mans hand, the thug unable to move anymore because something was preventing him, and Chiyuki bit right into his forearm.

"Shiro-chan!" Itsuka screamed, a bit delayed but all she could think of was the terrible injury that Chiyuki must have to have expelled that much redredred blood.

It was like something changed in Chiyuki as she blinked slowly, one eye at a time as she did sometimes to appear tired, and she looked at the man in horror. She looked at the gaping wound in the arm, and she quickly spit out what she had in her mouth and backpedaled. She retched but nothing came out as she turned onto her hands and knees, looking away from Itsuka and the man.

Itsuka saw the second thug approaching through clouding vision. Chiyuki saw his feet.

Chiyuki needed to move but it was like she was frozen, she still needed to process things and she _couldn't do a damn thing_.

Then a large man descended from the sky, fist driving into the second thug about to kick Chiyuki's head off her shoulders, all while he cried, "I am here!"

.

It took a moment for the situation to clear in Chiyuki's mind. As the adrenaline faded and she bit her lip to end the Blood Thirst, Chiyuki looked up at the hero who had come in, finding a well built man who was very large and wore a black mask across his face. He tossed the man he had just effectively knocked out cold to the side, and appraised Chiyuki. He looked from her, to Itsuka, to the bleeding but still alive Knife Hands.

"Good work, little girl." the man finally praised, "You put up a great fight before I, Knuckleduster, could save you."

Leaning back on her heels, she tried to think past the events that just happened to the story she could recall from her past life. Knuckleduster. That sounded familiar. He was from the spinoff manga, if she recalled correctly. He was a vigilante, she remembered a bit more confidently.

He also was the one who broke her brothers face in the manga.

Looking at Knuckleduster with much more clarity, Chiyuki finally managed, "I'm fine. Itsu-chan. Please, she needs the hospital."

Chuckling, Knuckleduster lifted Chiyuki by her shirt and put her back on her feet. She wobbled for a moment, and wow she felt like she had used a lot of her blood in attacking and healing. When she regained her strength she hurried over to Itsuka. The orange haired girl was unconscious, not dead, as Chiyuki felt her pulse. One of her arms was bent the wrong way, a bone protruding, from when she had been thrown at the wall, and there was a lot of blood coming from her head.

"Itsu-chan." Chiyuki sobbed in relief, letting the tears come as she leaned her head against Itsuka's.

Knuckleduster observed the two children until the police arrived, and he briefly explained he had taken down the two thugs trying to hurt these poor girls, no need to thank him, and then he was gone. He was an illegal vigilante, after all, no need to stick around and be arrested.

.

Chiyuki had healed herself after the fight in her moment of instinct that she didn't even remember if she were honest. She was waiting on her bed in the children's side of the emergency room as they contacted Chizome. She didn't like the silence in the area, it gave her too much time to remember. She had used her quirk on pure instinct in the fight and that was bothering her. She was glad she had the instinct to use her quirk in a fight after struggling with it her younger childhood, but her instinct had led her to fight like something possessed.

She could remember the vague, painless sensations of ejecting blood from her body in thin splashes to infect and attack Knife Hands. She could recall her body telling her that his body was hers now, and it had felt so right to bite into his body to take the blood he had caused her to waste.

Chiyuki put her head in her hands.

"I'm a monster. My quirk, how could a hero fight like that? I'm a wild animal. All my training... it was all for nothing. I couldn't control a damn thing." Chiyuki whispered, biting down on her lip to keep from yelling in frustration. She needed to cool down. She just wanted to go home and wash up, then take a nice bath and wrap herself in the safety of her soft blanket and plush animals.

The curtain peeled open and Chiyuki lifted her head, scowling when she realized it was her doctor and not her brother.

"Hello Chiyuki-kun," Sakaribe Sakuya greeted rather cheerfully, "I haven't seen you in awhile, which is always good. I hear you got in a scuffle?"

Chiyuki frowned at the word 'scuffle' and replied, "I... suppose you could call it that."

Nodding, Sakuya approached slowly and tucked his clipboard under one arm as he raised his hands, "I'm going to examine you now for injuries. You told the nurses that the blood isn't yours?"

Did she? That sounded like something she would have said to avoid having to interact much. Chiyuki nodded her head and Sakuya pressed his hands into her abdomen and they faded into her. Sakuya narrowed his eyes for a moment but kept a smile planted on his lips.

"Okay, Chiyuki-kun. You don't have any injuries, although I am curious about that new scar on your arm." Sakuya hummed, "You also have interesting tears in your shirt."

"Very interesting." Chiyuki agreed tiredly, "The scar is from a camping trip a few months ago."

Sakuya brought his hands back and pressed his clipboard against the wall as he started to write. He nodded along to whatever he was writing, as if he was speaking the words out loud, then he began to talk, "Tell me about the camping trip."

"I learned a lot about plants. We also had a mini sports festival we were allowed to use our quirks in. I won the race even though my quirk doesn't help me run faster." Chiyuki explained, slowly brightening as she remembered the good parts of her camping trip, "We also roasted things on campfires and I made the best golden marshmallow."

Sakuya laughed, "You're a camping overachiever then."

A ghost of a smile crossed her lips, but faded almost immediately. The curtain opened again and this time, Chiyuki was glad to see her brother. He was wearing his work uniform, and he had a smudge of something on his cheek. Probably oil, judging by the blackish color.

"Chi-chan, you're alright." Chizome breathed in relief as he dropped his bag at the edge of the bed and pulled a chair close to her side to collapse into.

Chiyuki shrugged, "Itsu-chan was hurt."

"What happened?" Chizome asked, "The police said you were attacked by a villain."

"More a thug than a villain. He had a quirk that made his fingers knives." Chiyuki reported, frowning, "He wanted money but Itsu-chan and I didn't have any."

"Mugging a kid?" scoffed Chizome under his breath, but Chiyuki caught it.

She shrugged, "He might have been following us. I think he was after Gen-kun, but Gen-kun had just split away from us to go home his way."

"Gensuto-kun does come from a family with money." Chizome agreed slowly.

Sakuya, who had no doubt been listening intently, finished writing on his clipboard and turned to give a handshake and greeting to Chizome.

Sakuya smiled, "Good news is, Akaguro-san, that Chiyuki-kun is physically unharmed."

"Is there bad news?" Chizome retorted, eyes narrowing at the doctor.

Leaning in, Sakuya whispered something that Chiyuki didn't catch. She scowled at that, and Chizome almost mimicked her expression a moment later. Leaning away from the doctor, Chizome muttered, "Whatever you say, sensei. Thanks."

Sakuya gave them a cheerful goodbye, told Chiyuki that she would be free to go however the police would likely want to speak with her, and he was gone. Chiyuki waited a few moments before she wilted into her brother.

"I want to go home." she told him, her weariness bleeding into her voice.

Chizome brought her home on his back, only because Chiyuki was too big to ride his shoulders now.

.

Chizome listened as Chiyuki told the police about what happened. She had been walking with Itsuka when a man had grabbed them and pulled them into the alley. He hurt Itsuka and Chiyuki tried to stop him but got hurt and used her quirk to heal herself. Then the vigilante came in, knocking the men out and saving her and Itsuka's lives. Chizome knew Chiyuki was hiding something, from the dead look in her eyes to the way she told the story without any personal connection.

But the police bought it.

"So what did the vigilante look like again?" Chizome asked as he carried her home.

Chiyuki hummed into his shoulder, "His name was Knuckleduster. He was a big guy, loud. Wore a black fabric mask around the top half of his head. I don't remember much else."

Chizome remembered that and when he had seen Chiyuki to bed that night, he called in to work. He snuggled with her for an hour as he let her sleep in his bed. But when he eventually got up he acted natural. He left the apartment with his bag as if he were going to work, but instead walked the area. He looked a bit like a thug himself, except in that he held himself far too proudly. He wanted to find the man who saved his sister. Chizome wanted to thank the man for saving his sister.

He thought about Chiyuki as he wandered aimlessly. He had expected something like this to happen eventually with the neighborhood they lived in. To be honest he was glad it had been just a thug, and not a gang, that had went after her. Chizome was thankful he had taught her self defense, and was very glad he had the foresight to have known something like this would have happened. He was even glad for her quirk, giving her the ability to heal herself.

Of course, he knew something else had happened. She looked like hell sitting in the hospital covered in blood. She had been pale, and she had gone and drank a lot of blood that night when they got home. She had went to bed early and pulled herself into a blanket cocoon. Chiyuki wasn't acting like herself, but Chizome knew it wasn't her fault.

His blood _boiled_.

Where were the _heroes_ in their neighborhood? Why did it take a _vigilante_ to save his baby sister?

It had been a long time since Chizome had felt this much anger and hatred. It was like all his old feelings towards heroes had returned with a vengeance. It was a downward spiral the entire night. He was reminded of the terrible people he had seen when he went to school to be a hero. He remembered his brief stint of trying to convince people about false heroes and true heroes. He hadn't been out to preach his ideologies in years, Chiyuki had taken over his life.

He loved Chiyuki. He would do anything for her.

Today's event unsettled him. Chiyuki was a strong kid, but she wasn't the strongest yet. He was so proud of how far she was coming with her self defense training but she was still a child. What would happen if someone hadn't come to her rescue today? She would be dead, and Chizome would rather die himself before something happened to Chiyuki.

Something had to be done.

The heroes in the world weren't right. He had always known, and he had always been wary of Chiyuki's ambitions to become a hero. She would be a good hero, Chizome thought. She had the quirk of a villain, he knew she thought that and he understood why she thought that. But she had the makings of a hero. She liked to help people, she hardly thought about herself when someone was in danger.

But he didn't want Chiyuki to become a hero in a terrible world. He didn't want her to have to fight and kill the worst of the worst. So Chizome decided, someone would have to take matters into their own hands. A vigilante had saved her today, not a hero. The thugs in their neighborhood had to go first because she was still so young and so pure. The thugs needed to go. Then, the heroes who weren't worthy of the name would have to go. There were so many benefits that he could think of to getting rid of those unworthy heroes. It would take time, and it would turn his hands red.

But someone would have to have blood on their hands for the world to change. He was willing to do what had to be done, he was willing to kill, for the world to be a better place. It was just convenient for him that both his love for Chiyuki and his hatred of heroes, had managed to finally come together and show him the path he wanted to take.

By the end of the night, Chizome had not found Knuckleduster, but he had certainly found something within himself.

.

Chiyuki wasn't expected at school for a week or two. During that time she mostly stayed in the apartment. Sometimes she cooked, sometimes she exercised. She caught up on all the anime she had wanted to watch and rewatched a season of Nekogami. She tried to start some kind of routine to keep her mind off Itsuka, who she hadn't seen, nor had tried to see. Of course, Itsuka haunted her nightmares every single night which wasn't helping Chiyuki's mentality.

Itsuka didn't need to see her now, Chiyuki was sure. It hurt, because Chiyuki felt like there were a lot of things unsaid. She wanted to go and talk to Itsuka, make sure she was okay, but Itsuka didn't need her now. She hadn't been able to look Chiyuki in the eye before, how would she even be able to speak to Chiyuki now? Chiyuki had ripped off a chunk of a man's arm in front of her, and recreated her arm gushing blood except with her torso.

Chiyuki changed position on the couch when she heard the front door open. She adjusted to a new position and stilled when Chizome came into view and greeted her.

He held up a bag, "Got some pastries from the bakery. Glad to see you moved while I was gone."

Chiyuki accepted the bag from her brother as he sat where she had been moments before. He shifted to get comfortable and he pulled at her blanket so that they could share it. She felt a pair of cold hands wrap around her ankle and she squealed, trying to get away as Chizome laughed, saying something about her being a heater to warm his hands.

After they settled, and Chizome warmed up, he mentioned, "I ran into Itsuka-chan's mom."

"Oh." Chiyuki tried to sound a little bit more excited than she actually felt, "What did she say?"

"Itsuka-chan is healing well. Her arm was hurt pretty bad but she should be back in time for the graduation ceremony. Until then... well, Kendo-san asked for us not to visit." Chizome winced when Chiyuki closed her eyes.

She looked at him through her lashes, "I understand...I mean, I know why."

"Chi-chan..." Chizome frowned.

"I know why." Chiyuki repeated firmly, "Itsu-chan couldn't look me in the eye from when I got hurt camping. And what she saw, what I did, seeing me would hurt her."

Chizome leaned back, "You told the police the vigilante took care of those two men. I know you lied."

"Are you mad?" Chiyuki returned.

"No. But I want to know what really happened." Chizome told her seriously.

Chiyuki frowned. She flipped over to lay with her brother. She put her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat.

Then she said, "I wanted to kill him. He hurt Itsu-chan and all I saw was red. My body, those instincts I felt like I've always lacked with my quirk, they were directing me. I didn't have an ounce of control. All that training Nii-san... it meant nothing in the heat of the moment. Knuckleduster didn't take down the first thug. Knife Hands. I did. I took over his body, and... and I bit him. I used a lot of blood to take over him and to heal myself. I, my body was telling me that his blood was mine. I was so ashamed that I had basically mauled him, that I didn't see the second guy coming until he was over me. But I was freaking out, I couldn't do anything. Then Knuckleduster came from, a rooftop I guess, and got him. He told me, he told me 'Good work' and that I put up a good fight and, that's what happened."

Chiyuki felt like crying again. She felt hot shame across her body as she wondered what her brought could be thinking about her. But then warm arms enveloped her and she felt the first tear fall. After that, she cried well and good into her brother as he rubbed her back and whispered soothing things into her ear.

"Don't you worry, Chi-chan. You're a good girl. Everything will be okay. Nii-san will make sure everything will always be okay."

.

Chizome used Chiyuki's emotions to fuel her energy in training for the last week before she went back to class. They practiced everything. Chiyuki even practiced what she had done to eject blood out of her body, although she didn't exactly force herself into a major attack such as what she did with her chest. Chizome frowned the first time she showed him. Of course he had seen her cause little injuries across her body and his body before. But this was something a little more major.

"I think we could have your first offensive attack for when you're a hero if you can focus that a little bit more into, maybe a needle shape, rather than a splatter shape." Chizome mentioned. Chiyuki, an intense expression on her face, nodded in agreement.

"A needle sounds perfect." she was concentrating intently on her arm as another gouge exploded on her forearm. She grunted, healed it, took a chug of her thermos, and tried again.

Chizome settled down on a rock he had pulled into the clearing that he sometimes had Chiyuki push around for strength training. He started to clean his knives and swords. He looked up to check on his sister every few seconds, but he trusted that she knew how much her body could handle. Besides, this would train up her endurance for the future in using her quirk.

He wanted her to be the strongest hero in the future. He wanted her to be the next All Might.

.

Chiyuki and Gensuto sat awkwardly at lunch. Graduation was only two weeks away and Chiyuki had been gone for two weeks.

"So, my mother heard from the other moms that you and Suka-chan were hurt." Gensuto mentioned, picking at his bento.

"Yeah. We were attacked by a thug." Chiyuki tried to stuff a whole onigiri in her mouth at once, but only succeeded in breaking it and causing half a onigiri to fall back into her bento box.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Gensuto said, "My mother uh, I'm going to one of her choice in middle schools."

Chiyuki looked up, blinked, and nodded carefully, "That's alright. We will still see each other."

"Yeah. Of course." Gensuto agreed, taking a moment to smile.

A week later, the teachers asked Chiyuki what middle school she was attending. She had really forgotten to bring it up to her brother yet, so she did.

Chizome sat them down that morning and he admitted, "We're tight on money."

Chiyuki blinked, "So that means..."

"I'm sorry Chi-chan. I've been working hard to get the money for the schools you liked but, you're going to have to go to Hosu General Middle School. It's the best option we could afford." Chizome admitted, "I should have told you sooner but I didn't want you to be sad." Hosu General wasn't a terrible school, but it wasn't nice like the schools she had been looking at with her friends. It was a step under her bottom favorite option too.

"That's why you let me go on the camping trip." Chiyuki realized, trying not to look upset but not really doing a good job at that, "You looked sad when you gave me the money."

"You picked up on that. Of course you did." Chizome scratched his head, "Look. Middle school, you're such a smart kid you'll do amazing regardless where you go. High school, well, you can choose any high school you want. I promise that I will find a way to pay for whatever high school you want since you can't go to a good middle school with your friends."

"You promise." Chiyuki looked him in the eye.

Chizome saw the calculating look in her eyes, but he still smiled and promised, "Yes. I promise."

.

Itsuka made graduation. It was a quaint ceremony where all the kids wore their middle school uniforms. Chiyuki looked a little cross in her Hosu General uniform, but she sobered up when she saw Itsuka. Itsuka looked like nothing had happened, for the most part. The only thing suggesting something had happened was the cast her arm was in.

After the ceremony, Chizome took some pictures of Chiyuki and she found Gensuto, who they took pictures with. And then Gensuto said he would go get Itsuka when he noticed the discomfort on Chiyuki's face.

So Chiyuki waited with her brother and Gensuto's older sister. His mother had never really forgiven Chiyuki for shoving his face into his bento all those years ago, so she had walked away as soon as she and Chizome had approached. Gensuto's older sister, Gemma, spoke with Chizome while Chiyuki grabbed Chizome's hand and squeezed it for support. He squeezed back.

When Gensuto came back with Itsuka, him seeming to drag her by her good arm, Chiyuki felt her heart drop to her feet.

"Picture time." Gensuto insisted, and for once he was in the middle of one of their pictures. Normally, Itsuka was in the middle of all the other photos they took every year on birthdays and other events. Itsuka's mother appeared from the crowd, and took some photos with a digital camera. Gemma did the same with a very nice looking camera, while Chizome had one of the cameras from the store that you brought to the photo counter to develop.

Chizome took a few, and Chiyuki hoped they all looked happy in at least one photo.

Chiyuki smiled awkwardly at Itsuka when Gensuto stepped back.

Itsuka looked at their feet, mentioning, "Hi Shiro-chan."

"Hi, Itsu-chan." Chiyuki repeated back at her.

Chiyuki looked down at her feet now, and asked, "How are you?"

"I'm... I'm fine." Itsuka told her, "It's, It's too bad we aren't, all of us are going to different middle schools."

"Yeah." Chiyuki agreed, "It won't be the same without both of you."

"We'll still see each other." Gensuto told the girls.

"We will." echoed Chiyuki.

Itsuka didn't look up, softly repeating, "We will."

An hour later, with Chizome treating her to a nice ramen restaurant she had been wanting to try, Chiyuki regretted not having more to say to Itsuka. She had wanted to say so many things. To apologize, mostly. To apologize for everything. But it hadn't been the right place or time, she felt.

Chizome smiled at Chiyuki when she looked up at him after staring at her bowl, "Isn't this ramen great?"

"Yeah." Chiyuki agreed, trying to smile for him.

Chiyuki would regret not saying more to Itsuka for a long time.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Woo! Elementary school is finished. I've written a few chapters ahead, and I'm thinking maybe a chapter per month?**

 **To be honest this chapter came out so good compared to my drafts of it. The original draft of Chiyuki vs Knife Hands was just as awful as the original spider draft.**

 **I'm seeing the My Hero movie in theaters this weekend, I am very excited.**

 **Fun Fact: Chiyuki loves soft things. She has to touch every soft looking thing in the store and when she ends up with hand-me-downs, Chizome tries to soften his old clothes as much as he can.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **LordOfTee  
Nameless  
The Wandering Mage ****Red  
Rayza Lemon  
Weebsweb**


	6. The Brother Rises

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 6_

 _The Brother Rises_

* * *

Chiyuki's first day of middle school, Chizome took pictures. He took a picture of her in her uniform, a picture of her making a bento for lunch, a picture of her shoving her knife into her bag. He even took pictures as she tried to put her hair up into a tight ponytail like he kept his in. By the time she was ready to leave, she was cranky about all the pictures.

"Nii-san." she complained as he took a picture of her cranky face.

"Listen, I have to use up all the film so I can have the other pictures developed." Chizome retorted, holding the camera up again, "Smile!"

Chiyuki did give him a smile once she was outside, mostly because he had been trying to get her to smile all morning. As she walked towards her new school, Chiyuki thought about the knife she had slipped into her bag. With her eleventh birthday having just passed, and a break full of training, Chizome had presented her with the knife he had given to her for her birthday many years before. She was finally ready to start carrying it, he had decided.

The knife had rules attached to it. It wasn't allowed to be out while she was in school, and she had to hide it because she definitely wasn't allowed to have it. Of course there was the obvious rule of it being only used in self defense, and if she got in trouble she was supposed to blame him. She was supposed to tell them he insisted she carry it for protection.

Chiyuki felt comforted by its presence when she finally made it to the middle school. There were so many unfamiliar faces but she was kind of glad for it. She hoped she could potentially make some new friends, although it would never be like Itsuka and Gensuto. She hadn't seen them over the break but she was hoping she'd run into them somewhere.

She found her classroom and took a spot in the middle of the row by the window. She didn't want to be all the way in the back corner because she was interested in what the teachers would say, but she also didn't want to sit right in the front where she wouldn't be able to daydream if she already knew what they were talking about. She watched her classmates come in and was a little disheartened she didn't see anyone from her elementary school, but that was potentially a good thing. If no one from her middle school was there, then she could drink her thermos again without people giving her side eyes.

Chiyuki took a nervous sip of her thermos, pushing it back in her bag hanging off the corner of her desk. Two Nekogami keychains hung off the strap of her bag and she debated putting them inside her bag so no one would ask about them. She hoped others liked Nekogami, at least then she would have something to talk about with new kids. Anime was a great topic for kids of all ages.

When the teacher came in, he introduced himself as their homeroom teacher and the English teacher. He took down where everyone had seated themselves, everyone took turns introducing who they were, and then when the bell rang the English teacher left to be replaced by the math teacher. When lunch finally came, Chiyuki took her bento outside and found a tree to sit under while she ate.

She was so focused on her bento that she didn't notice someone approaching until the shadow fell across her. When she looked up she found a familiar face glaring down at her, hands on hips and an accusing look directed at Chiyuki.

Susume huffed, "Funny you're here. It's your fault my daddy made me go to this garbage middle school!"

"Next time don't be a bitch." Chiyuki returned evenly with a bored tone.

Susume tossed her hair over her shoulder, "I'm already making lots of friends. You better watch yourself, Akaguro!"

Chiyuki glared at her back until she was around a corner and gone.

.

The second day of middle school, everyone was whispering behind Chiyuki's back. She already knew why without hearing what they were saying. Susume was likely spreading rumors, and every time Chiyuki took a sip of her thermos the class seemed to hold its breath. During class it was fine, everyone was attentive to the teachers. At lunch Chiyuki grabbed her things and went to eat by the tree again.

She saw Susume pass with a group of girls, and Chiyuki shot a glare at the girl, but Susume only glanced in her direction.

The next few days went very similar, and it was the third week of school when someone tried to trip Chiyuki as she made her way back to her desk after lunch. Chiyuki had hardly stumbled, deftly catching herself, and she sat down without addressing it, but looked at the offender a few minutes later when the event had passed. It was a girl she had never spoken to before.

The next week, someone put pins in her shoes. Chiyuki dumped them in the trash and went home.

Chiyuki learned not to leave her bag at her desk when someone dumped pins into that. Honestly, she wondered where they got the pins from.

Finally someone went after her thermos about a month of a half into school and Chiyuki, annoyed at this point, stood up during homeroom and held the thermos above the head of the boy who had went to grab it. Chiyuki was taller than most of the middle schoolers at this point, having grown to be lanky like her brother. She narrowed her eyes at the classroom.

"You want to know what's in this so bad?" Chiyuki demanded of the room, "You all know what it is, don't you? It's my blood supplement. I need this to live."

The room was silent after she finished. She had tried to stress the 'need this to live' part and really, adding the supplement part made it sound less like she was a vampire. She sat down after a moment and put her thermos right back on the corner of her desk. She glared at the boy who had tried to snatch it and he shifted back towards his own desk.

Huffing, Chiyuki waited for class to start.

.

Chizome waited until Chiyuki started middle school to do anything. He bided his time during her break by getting ready, preparing his swords and knives, getting a mask, some gear. He found a rather interesting mask that he liked, and he kind of wanted to show it to Chiyuki but he knew he couldn't. The mask was made of a thin metal and he could slide it up quickly and efficiently so he could lick someones blood.

Finally, after Chiyuki seemed to settle into middle school, Chizome gave the first lie to his sister.

"Going to work. Make sure to go to bed on time." Chizome called as he tied his boots. He was wearing his work uniform but he had his new costume ready in his bag.

Chiyuki called back from the bathroom, a splash sounding from the tub, "Have a safe walk! Don't work too hard."

Chizome left the house and locked the door behind him. He walked through the alleyways and found an abandoned building to change in. When he pulled the new mask on his face, he smiled under it. He looked in the cracked mirror of the abandoned factory bathroom and thought, yes, this is the face of someone who will help clean up the district.

Having trained hard over the years in his free time, Chizome was physically pretty able. His parkour needed a bit of work, but he could out muscle some obstacles. His leg strength especially was better than most. He was able to climb buildings with pure effort and strategic thinking, and this was how he skulked around the neighborhood. His first targets were easy, a few thugs meandering the neighborhood looking for drunks.

He dumped the bodies in various places, some in the river, some in the landfill, some in the woods. He made it look like yakuza activity, especially considering he made it obvious that a sword was used. Typically these days yakuza carried swords to look dangerous and cool. After a night of hard work, Chizome wondered what to call his new mask. Walking home and checking the time on his watch, Chizome decided on a name.

Stendhal.

That would be his name for now. He would use that name while he cleared the streets of thugs. When he moved on to the heroes he would need a new persona. Stendhal was a vigilante, and a murderer. The other one would need a name not related to Stendhal. He would be a hero killer then. A villain.

Chizome looked at his hands. As long as he kept to a mask, he could still be the loving older brother Chizome. Chizome and Stendhal were two different people now. And when the time came, whoever else he became, they would only be a mask at night for Chizome to clear the path, and the world, for his dear sister.

.

By the third month of middle school, Chiyuki was already tired of it. Middle schoolers were complete brats. They had what appeared to be an unlimited supply of pins to put everywhere. Her skirt was heavy enough where the time she didn't notice them on her chair they didn't pinch her ass, but she was getting tired of the increasing amounts in her shoe locker.

She was apparently scary enough no one bothered her beyond the petty things. It was probably her gym scores that terrified everyone. Chiyuki was one of the smartest in class, but also had the highest scores in gym. She was stronger than the boys, kept up with even the kids who had speed based quirks (With definite effort), had coordination that made her a menacing opponent in sports.

The school had a martial arts club she attended, mostly full of upperclassmen, who were surprised by her already having rather good training. She really enjoyed the club, and the club members tolerated her. They heard the rumors and kept their distance, making it clear she was a dear club member but that they weren't best friends. By summer break, Chiyuki was somewhat content but not happy with her middle school experience so far.

The best part of break was the martial arts tournament. Chiyuki could remember vividly her brother's cheers and encouragement as she went through each round of fights. Him yelling advice that she heard over her senpais. Him cheering the loudest when she slammed her opponent into the soft foam so hard they bounced. Him looking so incredibly proud when she was given a trophy to hold above her head proudly, her team for once looking like they truly appreciated her presence.

Regardless of her success with her tournament, summer break brought more advanced training with her brother. As he had promised, Chizome began to teach her how to fight with a sword during that break.

"A sword is an extension of you." Chizome began when he presented her with a sword for the first time, "It's longer than a knife and I expect you to master this in the future, not now. There are different ways to fight with a sword, different styles. I know a few, so I will teach you everything I know over time."

"Thank you, Nii-san." Chiyuki smiled, "I've always loved these lessons, you know, even when I complain."

"I'm glad. They'll certainly help you in the future." Chizome told her before giving her a real, not dulled in any way, sword, "Now, come at me. I want to see what you think you know."

Chiyuki didn't hesitate, trusting her brother wouldn't let himself be hurt by her.

.

Chizome met Knuckleduster not as Chizome, one night after Chiyuki returned to middle school for the second semester, but as Stendhal.

Stendhal had swooped in as a man was trying to drag a woman into an alley. He pulled the man off her, shoving the woman out of the alley and dragging the struggling man deeper into the darkness with him. The man spat and cursed at him but Stendhal didn't say a word until the hustle and bustle of the neon lit street was gone.

"You are a disgrace of a human. The world doesn't need trash like you." Stendhal remarked, dropping the man who scrambled backwards until his back hit a wall. Stendhal put his boot on the mans chest, unsheathed his sword, and prepared himself. It was getting easy now to kill. He no longer had flashbacks to when Chizome had killed someone to save his sister, nor did he recall their parents haunting dead faces every time. Stendhal didn't have flashbacks. Chizome though, still had nightmares to the day he had been left the sole family member Chiyuki had left.

Stendhal didn't kill the man though, dodging out of the way of a fist that descended from the building top. A large man stood in front of Stendhal, protecting the scum behind him. He grinned, and Stendhal took a moment to realize who this was.

"Knuckleduster." Stendhal greeted tonelessly. Chiyuki's description had been accurate. He was indeed a large man, and he wore a black fabric mask. In the heat of the moment, she probably hadn't noticed the fresh scar on his face. Or perhaps he had only acquired it recently.

"Oh, so you know my name! Excellent, then, would you tell me yours?" Knuckleduster replied, arms tensing to see if Stendhal would act rather than speak.

But Stendhal didn't move, only replying, "Stendhal. You would protect the scum behind you? We are both vigilantes, do we not share the same path?"

"You and I?" Knuckleduster laughed, "I'm a champion of justice. You, you're just a street murderer it looks like. Although, you don't seem to be gauging the distance to strike me."

"Despite our goals conflicting," Stendhal paused, "You saved someone. Someone who I am cleaning the streets for."

Knuckleduster considered this, "Cleaning the streets, eh? Sounds like some bullshit."

"Someone has to bloody their hands to make a change. Consider yourself lucky, tonight, Knuckleduster. Out of respect, for saving someone, I will let you live." Stendhal blocked with his sword as Knuckleduster came at him. Stendhal's heels burrowed into the ground as the force pushed him back. Knuckleduster leaned in, teeth grit in a grin, and was close enough Stendhal could smell his breath from around his mask.

"You sound like a lunatic." Knuckleduster said, "You need to be locked up."

Stendhal disengaged, then climbed a nearby wall with impressive leaps and parkour. Knuckleduster watched him go, a scowl appearing on his lips.

"Damn it. I've saved a lot of people. How am I gonna figure out who I saved that this Stendhal would relate to?"

.

The second year of middle school brought a rise in hormones that led to crushes galore. Chiyuki wasn't affected at all but she got to watch drama weekly as the boys discovered girls and the girls discovered boys. She thought it was awkward but watched in amusement whenever the girls made a show in homeroom, or someone broke up within a week of getting a new partner.

Susume was on her fourth boyfriend of the year in the second month, so Chiyuki casually mentioned that to someone during club hours. Susume wasn't very happy when that rumor made its rounds and almost got in a fight with Chiyuki. Chiyuki was rather calm though and Susume's temper was bad, but not bad enough to realize she would lose to someone in the martial arts club.

The rumor mill returned to Chiyuki a few weeks later when she heard she was apparently dating a gross older man. Chiyuki ignored the rumors and when one girl even came over to ask, Chiyuki simply blinked at her, one eye at a time and asked, "Do I look like someone with a boyfriend?"

That particular rumor died within a day.

The day Chiyuki received a letter in her shoe locker, she was at first extremely surprised. She looked at it suspiciously for a moment, then eyed her shoes that were empty of pins. Either this was a prank, which she was absolutely sure it was, or the boy who had put it in had cleared out the pins. Chiyuki opened the letter and skimmed it.

Then she sighed.

When she walked to club she handed it to one of her senpai's who asked why she was holding a letter. The senpai skimmed it, then giggled.

"Chiyuki-san, this sounds so bad." the senpai turned to the others, "Hey, hey, check out Chiyuki-san's love letter!"

Another senpai, this one a guy, leaned over and mimed puking. He rolled his eyes, "No guy would write this."

"I figured." Chiyuki agreed heartlessly, "I suspect it's a prank."

One of the girls disagreed, "What if he's just trying to be really poetic!"

"Your ruby eyes and snow white hair make you the apple of my eye, my fairest princess." the senpai holding the letter read out loud, then looked at the girl and commented, "Does that sound like he's trying to be poetic?"

"Yes." the girl huffed, "He's comparing her to Snow White!"

"How would a guy know Snow White?" another girl complained while a few of the club members looked confused.

Chiyuki clarified, "Snow White is a princess from old American fairy tales. A magic mirror called her the fairest of them all, which made a witch angry. The witch dressed as an old lady and gave her a poison apple that would put her to sleep forever."

"Did it end there?" one of the boys asked, sounding vaguely interested.

"A prince kissed her and she woke up and lived happily ever after." Chiyuki shrugged, "I'm just going to ignore this letter. If a boy comes up to me later I'll just turn him down."

"Ouch, not even giving the poor guy a shot." one of the boys laughed.

"To be fair, who would want to date Blood Eyes?" whispered one of the first years, looking embarrassed when Chiyuki eyed her with a knowing look. She murmured something that sounded like 'You don't really care about nicknames, do you senpai?' Scoffing, Chiyuki stood up.

Chiyuki crumpled the letter up and shoved it in her bag. She supposed her brother would get a good laugh out of it.

.

Chizome snickered when he read the poem his sister handed him at dinner. He skimmed it, laughing again when he reread it.

"So you don't think this is from a real boy?" he asked, rather calm. Chiyuki had half expected him to be an overprotective brother with the stance of 'No Boys Ever'!

Chiyuki swallowed the rice she had been munching on, "I think it's more likely to be a prank. I'm not very popular in school."

She hadn't told her brother about the bullying for multiple reasons. She didn't want him to feel guilty for putting her in the school. She wanted him to think she was having a good time so he wouldn't worry. She didn't want him to try and help, because that probably would make things worse.

Humming, Chizome leaned back to put the letter on the fridge next to the photos of Chiyuki holding all the karate club tournament trophies she had won so far. He declared, "Fake or not, it's my cute little Chi-chan's first love letter!"

"If it's fake then what's the point?" Chiyuki retorted, "I'm taking it down."

"You can take it down when you get a better one." Chizome told her. He inhaled some fish before asking, "Do you want to hear about the first crush I ever had?"

Chiyuki hardly thought about it, looking up and breathing, "Yes!" so fast she blinked as her mind caught up with her mouth.

Laughing, Chizome cleared his throat, as if beginning a wonderful tale, and said, "I was fourteen and there was my senpai in kendo club. She beat me up so many times, I guess she beat the feelings into me. So I told her, the day I beat you, I want to date you. And you know what she said?"

"What?" Chiyuki leaned in.

Chizome sheepishly rubbed his head, "Well, first she said, you'll never beat me kouhai, then she realized the date part and laughed so hard she tripped over her bokken and had to go to the nurse with a bloody nose,"

Chiyuki giggled, "Did you ever beat her?"

"Nope." Chizome leaned back, "I challenged her every day until the day she graduated. But the day she graduated she gave me the bokken she always beat me up with and told me that in the future we would fight again and maybe then I'd have a chance to beat her. And she also said that maybe I would have a chance with her then."

"Wow. That's a romance story. I hope you run into her again." Chiyuki nodded her head, "Yes that would be so cool."

"I am not one of your shoujo manga Chi-chan." Chizome messed with her ponytail as he grabbed her empty dish to wash, "Besides, I don't know if I would even recognize her now."

"What did she look like?" Chiyuki demanded and Chizome pretended to think, hemming and hawing for a moment.

"She was cute. I guess." Chizome shrugged with a sly grin, "Anyway, almost time for me to go to work. I'm going to get ready."

"Awh, I'll find out some day!" Chiyuki laughed and pulled her homework towards her.

She wondered about the love letter, and what idiot young boy would try that with her.

.

As Chiyuki had expected, it had been a prank. Susume and her pack had done it. They held it over her for months, being rather cruel too.

"You actually thought it was real?!"

"My princess! Ooh! You, a princess! Ha!"

"Gosh, who would want to date someone who looks like you!?"

"You aren't worth sappy poetry."

Chiyuki shrugged it off, even though it did hurt a little that the letter was really fake. She had expected it but a part of her had been hoping, deep inside, that someone actually had sent that letter legitimately. She would never say yes to it, she wouldn't consider dating a middle schooler when mentally she was an adult. Even when she was in high school dating would be a concern for her because she would feel bad turning someone genuine down, but like, ew? She wasn't a cougar.

Still, one day Chiyuki frowned at herself in the mirror. She thought she was cute. Her body was a bit disproportionate, with her being tall and lanky. Her joints were boney and pointy but her muscles strong and firm. She had big eyes that were a little unsettling in their deep red color (A voice in her head reminded her of Itsu-chan, poor Itsu-chan who couldn't look her in the eyes) and long pure white eye lashes. She hid her mangled ear underneath fluffy white hair, it had never healed and she had lived mostly her entire life with it. She was growing into a longer face now but she still had chubby baby cheeks that even her training wasn't getting rid of.

Chiyuki thought she was cute, and her brother thought she was the cutest, but no one in school did. They held jokes at her expense over that letter for a long while. And every time they said something, every time they put a tack in her shoes, every time someone tried to trip her, Chiyuki had to push down the growing dark feelings in the back of her mind. She had to remind herself that she wanted to be a hero, that she was the kind of girl who always wanted to help someone. But it was harder to want to help her classmates with every passing day.

The bullies moved onto something new eventually, but Chiyuki wouldn't forget. Kind, helpful, and surprisingly _spiteful_ Chiyuki, wouldn't forget.

.

The amount of nightly villains with quirks that seemed to strengthen out of nowhere was rising. Stendhal watched from the shadows and the first few times was caught off guard. The ones who ended up dead had never been his targets initially. The first time he had passed it off as coincidence. Maybe the man had been threatened by his actual target, and his quirk had been to grow larger. But when it happened a second time when he knew the person's quirk was something that shouldn't have been so powerful, he was confused. Then a third time, well, that was suspicious.

Something was happening.

Stendhal listened for awhile. Whispers of a drug called Trigger that would enhance your quirk and make you unbeatable. Stendhal knew the call of power would rot someone lesser, and wasn't surprised that some thugs had taken it. But a few times the user wasn't someone who looked like they wanted power, or would take drugs. Stendhal felt nothing when he cut down a woman who had been cornered in an alley and almost killed the guy who had been following her and catcalling her, although Chizome regretted that one.

Something more dangerous was happening, he deduced.

Stendhal looked closer. There had to be something outside that triggered them. And when he witnessed someone suddenly grow into a rage despite having nothing to set them off, Stendhal caught sight of a small prick on the side of their neck. If Stendhal had been anyone else, someone with a quirk that didn't have him looking for any signs of blood to lick, he would have missed it. And he zeroed in on that little hole as soon as he noticed it.

What could have caused that small hole?

.

Chiyuki was cleaning up the house when she found the pictures of her, Gensuto, and Itsuka. Her heart ached when she thought to how, only a year and a half ago, they were having fun together. Dreaming of a fun middle school together. She found frames for them and put them on the wall above her bed. But she had to move them a few days later because it was hard to sleep under the gazes of the ghosts of her former friends.

She missed them.

They hadn't kept in touch like they had said they would. It was hard not having cellphones. The other kids were starting to get them now in middle school, but Chiyuki didn't bring it up to her brother. She didn't really need a cellphone. She didn't have friends to text, and if her brother didn't have a cellphone she didn't really have anyone to contact. She could always find someone and borrow their phone to call either their house phone or Chizome's workplace. She had both numbers memorized.

Chiyuki tidying up the apartment led to her finding a lot of fun things. She found the supplies to rebind Chizome's recipe book with all the pages he had shoved into it in recent years. She made that look nice again and put it on the counter where it would hopefully not get buried under things again. She also found some old clothes she was too big for now, so she put them in a pile to either be donated or turned into rags. She considered if she could use them as fabric and sew herself something new.

Taking a black shirt Chiyuki pulled it on like a hood. She looked in the mirror and giggled.

"Have no fear for I, Shirogami, am here!"

Frowning softly, and sadly, at the name, Chiyuki pulled her makeshift hood off and tossed it back in the pile.

All her plushes were very important to her so she made sure they stayed on her futon as she set up the kotatsu for the upcoming fall and she found the other boot Chizome had lost. She had been taught how to clean knives and swords so she did that for the ones they kept as decorative, and she also dusted everything. Cleaning the kitchen required some elbow grease, and she organized their fridge.

When Chizome came to a tidy apartment, he looked a little bewildered.

"Did I walk into the wrong apartment?" he asked, walking around admiring everything.

Chiyuki frowned, "We're keeping this place clean from now on, Nii-san."

"Of course." he set his bag down on top of the kotatsu, "Oh, hey, we can use this now!"

Chiyuki responded by turning it on and shuffling under it.

.

Chiyuki mentioned what high school she wanted to go to for the first time as her second year of middle school came to a close.

Chizome choked, "You want to go where?"

"UA." Chiyuki repeated.

Taking a moment, Chizome took a drink of water before slamming it down and letting out an exhale. He finally said, "That is... far and expensive."

"I could take the train every day." Chiyuki replied.

Chizome frowned, "It's a two hour train ride."

"I can do my homework with those four hours of train time." Chiyuki retorted, "You promised any school."

Chizome huffed, "I did promise. But, UA. That's going to be tough."

"I can see if they offer scholarships." Chiyuki suggested, and Chizome nodded slowly with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I promised you so I will find a way to get the money. I know you can get in so we don't have to worry about that." Chizome sighed and took another bite of his dinner.

"Thank you Nii-san." Chiyuki also took a bite.

Chizome snorted, "You know I'd do anything for you. I guess getting the money to put you in UA and on the train there is part of that."

.

Stendhal hadn't had much of a thought when the girl approached him as he was undressing from his costume in the abandoned warehouse. It was dark and he was tired, Chizome ready to return home to Chiyuki. But when a girl wearing a high school uniform stepped out of the shadows, an unnatural grin on her lips, Stendhal only paused from removing his mask.

"I have a proposition for you, Mr. Stendhal!" she chirped, shadow falling across her face eerily, "You did a great job out there tonight, taking out that yakuza group."

"Stendhal," he agreed, "When this mask is off I am not him. Go away."

"The mask is still on, though. Now, I need some blood samples from some certain people and I think they'd be people that would be in our common interest for you to get rid of." the girl's smile didn't leave her lips.

Shifting and giving her his attention, Stendhal tilted his head and she produced a few pictures from her pocket. Stendhal eyed them, unmoving. He recognized one picture that already had an X through it, having killed him a few nights prior after suspecting him as a Trigger user. The next photo was the image of a bully he had seen around and the image after that another man.

Stendhal considered it until he watched an inconspicuous bee, flying in the shadows and just inside his peripheral vision. It kept to the outside, dropping to fly low and find its way towards the girl. In the shadows he could see it climb and disappear behind the girl's bangs. That was a strange sight, but Stendhal was used to strange quirks after some of his nights had gone.

Then he remembered a small puncture in the side of a neck.

In a moment that hardly lasted a second, the smiling girl was no longer smiling as a sword pierced her chest and blood bubbled past her lips.

"Trigger. You're the one who has been spreading it with those bees." Stendhal murmured, "In any other circumstance I would have considered assisting you. However if your bees had managed to sting my precious person... You are too much of a danger to allow to live."

Choking on her blood the girl growled, "You could have been strong with this. With us."

"Strength isn't what I seek. I've passed judgement enough on you, villainous little girl." Stendhal pulled the sword out of her chest and swung it out. The blood splattered out in an arc as the girl fell to her knees. The sound of angry bees sounded and Stendhal raised the sword and plunged it into where her hidden eye should have been. The sound of the bees lessened and finally ended as the girl, dead, collapsed to the side after Stendhal pulled his sword back.

He cleaned it on her jacket before he brushed her hair aside with his gloved fingers to see what she had hidden. The sight that greeted him would plague Chizome's nightmares for awhile, but Stendhal simply stood and grabbed his things to find another place to change.

.

Chiyuki considered ways she could help make money. She was still a little young for a part time job, but she thought about babysitting. No one really wanted her as a babysitter though because there were better babysitters with quirks that made caring for children easier and safer. Chiyuki asked the arcade if they needed help and she was shooed away. She tried asking Chizome's boss if he had a job for her, but she was too young.

In school, she opened art commissions. Honing her art skills from her past life, Chiyuki offered drawings. Some classmates took her up on it, sometimes having her draw manga of their classmates for fun and sometimes asking for portraits. The portraits were a bit harder, because Chiyuki's realism skills had taken a hit, but a lot of people were fine with her doing manga-styled portraits as well.

Chizome was amused with what he called her empire. Chiyuki worked on homework at night, as well as her commissions. She liked drawing, so it wasn't terrible, but she didn't love it anymore like she did in her previous life. Now she was in love with training, if she was honest. Learning new self defense techniques, learning how to fight. She adored it. Even when she went on her morning jog, which she hated, she still in a way loved it.

Training was part of her time with her brother. It was special to her.

She even loved training her quirk, despite the dangers it possessed. Her quirk was a part of her that she had learned to live with by now. She was gaining the control she needed slowly. More dangerous fights with her brother, pushing her into Blood Thirst, she was learning. She could heal more than she ever could, and she was already thinking of what she could do to make her signature moves.

But she was also getting a bit crueler, harsher (Parts of her thought of the bullies. Of Knife Fingers). She considered biting people now in her fights. She needed blood and other people had blood. Taking bites out of people was Chizome's suggestion and she had hated the idea at first. She could still remember Itsuka's eyes when she bit Knife Fingers and used her quirk. Chiyuki never wanted to make the mistake again, of causing someone innocent to fear blood.

She practiced being discreet. Instead of essentially opening the gates of hell by bursting blood out of her body, now she could force it out in a single stream. The stream could act as a needle, and generally she had the blood in her control until it hit the ground. She couldn't make it float or harden like Vlad King, although if she could find a way to do that then she damn well was going to, but inside her body was entirely hers. She could do whatever she wanted. As she got older she explored more with that.

Chiyuki was changing, growing, and she hoped it was for the better.

.

Chizome was almost ready to retire Stendhal. After a few more confrontations with Knuckleduster, and his two new friends, Stendhal had figured something out. Chizome rarely went to the gym anymore but when he did, he sparred in the ring with his acquaintance Oguro. The large man and Chizome rarely met with their differing schedules now, and Chizome had only taken note of Oguro's new scar with a passing interest. Oguro fought very familiarly to Chizome when they did fight and it was Stendhal who made the connection one night when he realized why it was so _easy_ to fight Knuckleduster when the man seemed to be such an excellent fighter.

Knuckleduster had unknowingly trained Stendhal to fight against him.

The moment he realized it had almost cost him his face but he slipped under the punch and moved away. He tried to process things as both Stendhal and Chizome. He tried to keep the two separate, with Stendhal being his aggressive side and Chizome being his approachable side. Chizome was still a bit gruff, and Stendhal had a soft spot for helping women and children, but the two were separate.

Until now.

Did Knuckleduster know? Stendhal fought like Chizome, and Stendhal wore his hair in the same ponytail that Chizome did. Although, Stendhal hadn't figured out Oguro was Knuckleduster for awhile despite how obvious it seemed in hindsight, so perhaps putting a mask over your face was all you needed to do to hide in plain sight. Stendhal tried to think if Oguro was a threat now. He had likely seen Chiyuki before when she had been in the gym with him during her suspension, but had he known it was his sister he saved that day in the alley?

Was Oguro, Knuckleduster, a threat?

Stendhal wasn't sure. Chizome was actually hoping he wasn't. Oguro, the weird upbeat fighter he was, was the closest thing Chizome had to a friend. They were just ring buddies, fighting when both were in the gym, but the thought still counted. He wasn't even sure if Oguro was his real name and Chizome wanted to know more about the man. Chizome didn't want to kill Knuckleduster, but Stendhal would if he thought for a second that Chiyuki would be in danger from him being alive.

But this was fine, Stendhal reasoned for now. He would be retiring soon and a new mask would be taken. Knuckleduster wouldn't have a reason to go after his new mask and his new mask wouldn't be confined to just the nearby districts. Whoever the new mask would be, Knuckleduster wouldn't be a threat.

Stendhal finished the encounter, a draw as per usual, disappearing into the shadows.

Knuckleduster wouldn't meet Stendhal again.

.

Chiyuki began her third year in middle school as the first hero was killed by a new villain who went by the name of Stain.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **A short chapter. But hey, for once Chiyuki had a pretty calm chapter.**

 **Chizome kept his nose!**

 **Chiyuki is blissfully unaware of what her brother is doing. But this Stain is certainly different from canon Stain. This Stain is doing it not only because of his own conviction, but for his sister as well. He also keeps his nose because he was unknowingly training with Knuckleduster in the gym for years. They were gym buddies. Also, Stendhal kills the girl with the bees from the illegals manga due to the threat those bees would be if one of them stung Chiyuki. That and this Stendhal was a bit more empathetic and just than the canon Stendhal. I'm probably not going to make any major plot from the Illegals stuff but I wanted to mention it.**

 **Also, the My Hero Movie was wonderful I loved it. I also got the game! And I love it! So far my favorite characters to play as are Stain and Ochako.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **Oldwinterfang  
ScarletMageRei  
SesshyXKagomeLover  
Weebsweb  
LordOfTee  
MarvelGeek13**


	7. The Sister Begins

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 7_

 _The Sister Begins_

* * *

Chiyuki looked at the councilor with a stern expression on her face. Returning the look, lips curled, the councilor repeated his earlier sentiments.

"You do not have the money for UA, Chiyuki-kun. Please consider taking more exams this year." he said slowly. He had his hand resting on top of the paper she had handed in with her top schools and the exams she would be taking. Written, in neat light blue letters, was UA and that was it. Every other spot was blank.

Shaking her head stubbornly, Chiyuki told him, "I will go to UA."

"UA only accepts the top percentage-"

Chiyuki cut him off with a snap, "Look at my grades."

With a grunt the councilor retorted, "Look at the finances."

"My brother said-"

"I don't care what your brother said," the councilor cut her off this time, rubbing his temple in aggravation, "Your brother works in a garage. He can hardly afford to send you to even a relatively nice high school."

"Then help me find scholarships." Chiyuki frowned, "They have to offer something. There are recommendation students that go there, correct? How do I get a recommendation?"

"That is likely an arduous process and students who are enrolled through recommendations into UA are likely from families with money or who have connections with one of the top heroes." the councilor explained tersely, "You wouldn't catch the eye of anyone even with a quirk like yours."

Chiyuki shifted, red eyes calculating, "Can I apply for financial aid with the school?"

"Chiyuki-kun, give up on this." the councilor stressed, "No one can help you. Not me. Not your brother. Not the principal. No one."

Grabbing her bag and standing up, Chiyuki glared down at the man and huffed, "I will help myself then. I am getting into UA and I will find a way to pay the tuition."

"Chiyuki-kun sit down we aren't done here." the councilor demanded. Chiyuki rolled her eyes at him and turned around, ignoring the looks the rest of the teachers were giving her as she stormed through the office towards the door.

"Chiyuki-kun!" the councilor shouted, "Sit down!"

"Why bother! You're useless!" Chiyuki shouted back, opening the door and slamming it behind her.

She nearly ran down the hall, storming past a few bewildered underclassmen who had all but leapt out of her way. Turning into the karate club Chiyuki dropped her bag and demanded, "Who wants to fight me?"

All the underclassmen scrambled away while her fellow yearmates sighed. They seemed to communicate silently, using their eyes to say they did not want to do it.

Reluctantly one of the boys offered, "I will. Just let me put some gear on."

.

Getting home after beating the snot out of everyone in the club, with a few apologies afterwards, Chiyuki dropped her school bag to empty out all the schoolwork. She kept a notebook and some writing utensils before she promptly left again and headed towards the library. She checked into a computer there and pulled up information on UA.

The website didn't really give her what she wanted so she searched up things like 'How to get into UA on recommendation' and 'Does UA offer financial aid?' but the searches only gave a little information. The school offered scholarships for talented students, notably a principal's one that would cover a grand portion of the money, and a few smaller ones. To apply you first had to be accepted to the school with a high score on the entrance exam.

Leaning back, Chiyuki calculated the finances. She had saved up all her allowances, all her earned money from commissions, and she would be able to potentially help cover some cost. It wouldn't be enough for even a year, but anything would help her brother. She considered what other jobs she could find but that search came back null as well.

Turning big eyes to the librarian who had been there ever since Chiyuki read the entire light novel section when she learned to read, Chiyuki requested, "Are there any jobs here I could do?"

Considering Chiyuki, the librarian sighed, "Chiyuki-san, not that I wouldn't trust you, but there are no jobs here for young girls."

"Please? I can file books, clean, teach the childrens classes, anything." Chiyuki pouted, "I need money to help pay for high school."

Sighing again, the librarian leaned over the counter. Chiyuki could feel the moment the librarian placed her quirk around them, a soft barrier flashing before disappearing.

"Legally, I can't offer you a job here. But I know you have your heart set on UA and I know you're reliable. So I will look for something for you." the librarian uttered softly, despite her quirk completely soundproofing their space.

"Thank you so much." Chiyuki bowed her head, and the librarian smiled.

When Chiyuki returned a few days later the librarian offered her a paper, barrier in place as she told her, "I asked around and a friend of mine is willing to have you clean dishes at a cafe. Another friend of mine is looking for someone who will tutor her son."

"Perfect! Are these their numbers?" Chiyuki beamed.

The librarian nodded, "I'm sure they will love you."

.

Tutoring was just after club, and luckily rather close to the school. Chiyuki tutored the boy in first year middle school subjects and when his dad found out she was a top student in the karate club, he was willing to pay more if she helped him on weekends with karate. That job made some money, but the money really came from the other job.

The first day Chiyuki met her boss at the cafe, both had a bit of a strange impression of the other.

Chiyuki, who was of the opinion the man in front of her was rather odd to be the manager of a theme cafe on the edge of the yasui district, didn't voice her opinion. The man on the other hand leered down at Chiyuki, rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "You are absolutely going to be a looker."

From behind, a busty woman grabbed him by the short ponytail on the back of his head. Shoving him back into the maid cafe the woman told Chiyuki, "Don't listen to Juzou. He's our cook. I'm the manager and co-owner, Kasagiri."

"Nice to meet you." Chiyuki bowed her head and Kasagiri grinned, remarking something about Chiyuki being unaffected before pulling her into the cafe and through the decorated inside. Behind the counter they entered the kitchen where Juzou was tying an apron on. He grinned at the two but Kasagiri sent him a nasty look in return.

"Okay Akaguro-chan, since you're technically not supposed to be working as a middle schooler, you will only be working back here. You will wash dishes, assist Juzou if he requires any helping with the food, and you will keep things tidy back here. If you work well I have more things for you to do." Kasagiri explained as she shifted through a closet before dropped a folded shirt onto Chiyuki's head, followed by an apron.

Chiyuki pulled the button up shirt on over her school uniform and when she was almost done tying the apron, Kasagiri gave her a pair of gloves she could use to wash dishes without drying out her hands. She was instructed to use hot water and wash as the dishes came in, hand drying them and placing them in the drying rack. If she had time, she could line them up for Juzou.

The first day went well. Chiyuki was focused on washing dishes and listening as Juzou either told stories to her or talked aloud to himself as he cooked. At the end of her shift, which ended at nine, Juzou called her a good kid and gave her an extra pudding to take with her. Kasagiri gave her a thumbs up when she passed her on her way out, and Chiyuki felt pretty good about her job as a dish washer.

Chiyuki arrived home, did her homework, and was asleep before her brother stopped in at eleven to check on her before going to his night shift.

.

Chizome came home at about 3am one night. He dropped his bag under his bed softly so as not to wake Chiyuki. She was snoring lightly from the dry air in the room and Chizome watched her for a moment. He took in the calmness of the room and just closed his eyes to listen to her breathe. He felt the tension in his body slowly fade away and he crouched down, sidling up to the edge of Chiyuki's futon.

Leaning over her Chizome examined her face.

He felt something warm in his chest and he gently reached out to touch her face. But he stopped, hovering over her pale skin. His hand trembled and he pulled back. His hands were stained, he reminded himself. He didn't deserve to touch her.

As he retracted his hand he paused again.

Inhaling, Chizome reached forward and gently pat Chiyuki's hair. He felt the soft, loose strands and he let out the breath he had been holding. Pulling back his hand Chizome observed Chiyuki. Her face was starting to become sharper and she was starting to resemble him a little bit more. Her cheek bones were high and her face narrow, but he thought that she luckily resembled their mother more than him or their father. She had more softness in her, especially with the stubborn baby fat that was still clinging strong.

Chizome leaned his head down and felt Chiyuki's favorite mint green blanket on his forehead. It was soft, like Chiyuki liked it, and Chizome remembered walking through the store and feeling every single blanket to find the softest one for her. He stayed there for a few minutes, just listening to Chiyuki breathe some more. Then he stood up, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door silently behind him.

He leaned over the sink and peered at himself in the mirror. He was paler now since he slept during the day for the most part. His eyes looked sunken and a little bloodshot. He turned the water on to scalding and stuck his hands under. He felt the burn but was really disassociating for the most part. His hands looked blood red as he stared but eventually he pulled them back out. They were pink and hurt a little but Chizome just wiped them on a towel and started to get ready to shower and then go to bed for a few hours until he woke up to see Chiyuki off in the morning.

.

Chiyuki was in class one morning when it felt like her world _broke._

"Did you hear about that new villain? The hero killer?"

The words had been whispered between two boys in the class during lunch. They had been discussing heroes and villains, as both were aspiring heroes, but Chiyuki didn't care about the rest of the conversation. She tried to force a neutral expression but she could feel her eyes watering and her face scrunching up. She was going to ugly cry, or scream. She wasn't sure which.

There was no way that wasn't her brother, right? There was no way there would be two hero killers in Hosu.

Chiyuki almost tripped out of her desk. She tossed her things into her bag roughly and peeled out of the classroom fast enough that a few whispers followed her exit. Chiyuki hurried down the hall and hung her head, ripping out her hair tie so that her hair could cover her face. She ran outside and passed a few people eating lunch on the benches. She ran to the side of the building and with little issue, scaled the fence wall and hopped the fence. Landing on the other side, Chiyuki ran.

She just ran without any particular thought towards where. She ended up at the cemetery, which she thought was fitting and ironic, and she slowed her pace as she found the grave of both her parents. Akaguro Chiyu and Nozome were usually something Chiyuki thought of once a year when she and Chizome visited the grave. In recent years Chiyuki and Chizome had been rather busy and Chiyuki couldn't remember the last time she had been at the grave.

She knelt, her body trembling as she tried to rationalize.

"I know," Chiyuki began quietly, "That I have been avoiding this problem. For years. That every time I considered it I just, I just pushed it down to the back of my mind."

The grave seemed unbudging, judging her coldly, and Chiyuki laughed bitterly, "Living a second life didn't fix my tendency to avoid things I don't want to think about."

Breathing deeply and trying to calm down, Chiyuki half sobbed as she growled, "I, I feel so conflicted. I should have stopped this. I, _fuck_."

Chiyuki was lost in thought for what felt like hours. She stayed there, crouching with her legs going numb as she stared blankly at the head stone. She tried to decide what she could do. In the end, Chiyuki stood up and walked to work. Her mind was still a mess and she didn't know if she would be able to look at her brother without crying for the next few days. Or maybe even for the rest of her life.

But she knew that UA was still the best thing she could do in this situation and she needed money for that. So she withdrew within herself, pushing her problems into the back of her mind as best she could, and she walked to work with a ghastly expression.

.

Juzou noticed something wasn't right. The man was weird, but he was observant when it came to people. He eyed Chiyuki as she silently washed dishes without the usual care she put into making sure they were immaculate. She worked robotically with surprisingly even movements that were tight and controlled. Her face was pulled firmly into one serious expression that Juzou couldn't put a measure on.

Something had definitely happened with his favorite middle schooler. Well, the only middle schooler he knew. Juzou didn't particularly like anyone under the age of eighteen, with his dishwasher being the sole exception.

When a lull in cooking came, Juzou sidled up to the white haired girl and leaned over her to observe her washing. He knew she absolutely hated when he did this, especially since the girl was rather tall and was used to towering over others her age. But Juzou was quirk tall, having the ability to stretch his limbs which made him great for working in a kitchen on his own. He could reach things quickly, efficiently, and the only reason he didn't dislike having Chiyuki in the room was because she kept to her space and put things back here they belonged. Juzou wasn't happy that his little helper was in a mood because that both meant she stunk up the room with that mood, but also because she wasn't be as careful as usual and the parfait spoons did not go with the cake ones!

"Are you having boy troubles?" Juzou asked seriously.

Chiyuki paused in her washing, steadied herself, and replied, "Absolutely not."

"Oh, but it's a boy who's bothering you then. Is it your brother?" Juzou pressed. When there wasn't a response he knew he was right. Juzou hummed for a moment, "Is he being a helicopter brother?"

"...no." Chiyuki sighed, "Juzou-san, I would prefer you didn't press me on this issue."

"And I would prefer you call me Juzou, but that's apparently not happening." Juzou smiled, "If he isn't being a helicopter, is he not around enough?"

Chiyuki groused, "Drop it Juzou."

"Ooh." Juzou pulled his arms back and gave her a little bit of space. An order came in to the window and he threw his arm towards it, bending his other one in what Juzou thought was a very sassy pose, "Feisty, but I don't really want to drop it. You're clearly upset over something."

He skimmed the order he had grabbed quick and took both arms to reach for the materials he needed. Juzou was built sturdy and his quirk was a little unsettling because the amount he could stretch depended on his body mass. Watching some of his torso get pulled into his stretching arm was part terrifying and part grotesque. But not everyone had pretty quirks.

Juzou had to look over his shoulder to grab the milk jug but everything else he could get while trying to get his dish washer to tell him what was going on with her brother.

Chiyuki refused to look at him for awhile as he continued to prod. He tried different phrases, trying to get something out of her. But Chiyuki was stubborn, no specifics and more rebuttals than anything else. Finally having enough, Juzou cracked his neck and extended it, head coming to look her in the eyes.

"Oh shit." Juzou's head retracted with an unsettling snap, "Why are you crying and why are your tears kind of red?"

"Quirk." Chiyuki huffed, finally turning to look at him. Her eyes were rimmed with red and a trail of pink followed the curve of her face. She grabbed a hand towel to start drying as she looked at Juzou with a morose expression, "My brother is my business and not yours. Stop trying to get me to talk because all you're going to get is tears."

Frowning, Juzou said, "Chiyuki-chan, I haven't seen you like this before. Your arms are trembling."

Chiyuki looked at her arms. She put the glass she had been drying down and she took a sip of her thermos she always kept on the counter with her. She shrugged after a moment, "I'm allowed to have feelings, even if I don't always look emotional."

She turned to face Juzou firmly, stating, "I am not discussing this any more. Drop it or I'll tell Kasagiri-san you were saying lewd things about customers."

Juzou's draw dropped, and he sputtered for a moment, but he knew where he stood in the conversation. So he walked back to his part of the kitchen and went back to work while watching Chiyuki from the corner of his eye. For once, the kitchen was devoid of any conversation or humming.

.

When Chizome got home that night to check on Chiyuki after his shift, the girl was still awake. Chizome let himself in quietly and walked towards the couch where she was curled up in her blanket watching the TV with an expression Chizome hadn't really ever seen her make.

"Chi-chan?" he whispered, squinting to see if her eyes were open and they were, reflecting the glow of the television, "Are you... okay?"

When a muffled grunt was the only answer Chizome walked closer. He sat on the couch next to her, pulling off his work shirt that had oil stains on it. The apartment was a little chilly in just his undershirt but he tugged on her blanket and she allowed him to scoot under it next to her. Dropping his head on top of hers he asked, "What's wrong, Chi-chan?"

"Meh." Chiyuki didn't react to his attempts to get a rise out of her. He ruffled her hair after picking up his head, he tried to get her to laugh when he took his cold hands and poked her with them. Chizome put the back of his hand to her forehead, frowning when it was warm but not warm enough to show signs of fever.

Chizome grabbed her hand and squeezed, "C'mon, tell me what's wrong?"

Finally Chiyuki turned to look at him. He winced when he saw the look in her eyes. She was looking more like him if you traded her obvious 'I've been crying' eyes for his 'I haven't been sleeping good' eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, began, but only got a noise out before she stopped herself. He let her take her time, considering what she should say.

She said, after a few minutes, "You."

"Me?" Chizome repeated as his heart beat stuttered for a moment, "What about me is wrong?"

Chiyuki looked away from him, eyeing the kotatsu instead, "What have you been doing, Nii-san? I miss you."

"I've been working to get you the tuition for UA." Chizome smiled, feeling sick as the lie sat in his heart and felt like it weighed him down, "Extra hard."

"Working. You work a day shift and a night shift. You go to the gym still?" Chiyuki didn't sound convinced and Chizome squashed down his sudden wish that his sister was just a little dumber, a little less observant. He loved his sister, he was doing everything for her. He shouldn't wish things upon her like that.

Chizome nodded, and it was true he went to the gym but the rest was twisted around, "I wake up with you and when you leave for school I nap until I go to the gym and then I go to work. I come back at eleven to check on you and rest for a bit before I go work the night shift."

"Okay." Chiyuki said. She sat up and took her blanket with her, wrapping it around her like a cloak. She walked over to her futon, dropped onto it and rolled into the center. Red eyes stared out at him and watched him as he moved around. He shut the TV off, made himself a sandwich that he ate as he started preparing for breakfast in the morning. He went in the bathroom and washed up a little, coming back out to pull a new work shirt on. He adjusted his hat and reached under his bed for his bag.

For good measure he replaced it with his day bag. Chiyuki was still awake, watching him as he walked towards the genkan to tie his shoes on. He knelt down and when he was ready he waved to Chiyuki, calling, "Goodnight. I'll be off now."

"Come home safe." Chiyuki replied softly, rolling over.

Chizome left.

.

Chiyuki was more composed the next day. She had gotten in minor trouble for ditching in the middle of the day but Chiyuki bullshitted the excuse that she had been sick. She didn't look very good that day and her teacher did feel a bit bad for her, told her to feel better and to not just skip school again. It had been her first real offense as Chiyuki usually was quiet during the school day.

She went to work after club and things were quiet between her and Juzou. He made a few jokes but otherwise, things weren't quite like they usually were. Chiyuki's mood was a bit better so Juzou did try to talk a bit. The work shift went by quickly and Chiyuki made her way home. At home she washed up and did her homework while making dinner and eating. Once she was ready for bed she adjusted her blankets and plush animals but eyed her brother's futon for a bit.

Finally she slowly crouched down and reached under it. Pulling out the bag underneath she unzipped it and closed her eyes when she found an assortment of blades. She didn't want to mess with anything in the bag to alert her brother that she had gone through it, but she gingerly shifted it to find armor pieces and a red cloth mask. An interesting addition was a metal face guard that had the perfect fit to where her brother's mouth would be.

Holding up the mask Chiyuki put it to her face. It was longer than the mask Stain used in the story she remembered. To think of it, in the story she had tried to remember he had no nose. Chiyuki put back the mask and zipped the bag back up. She pushed it back under the bed and she climbed onto her futon.

Her brother had a nose. Chizome had a nose. Her nii-san had a nose.

Rolling over, Chiyuki stared at one of the photos that decorated the walls of their apartment and she hoped that whatever she had changed accidentally, it would be enough for her to keep her brother.

Later on, Chiyuki would think back on this and think how silly, how _childish_ , it was that her brother having nose made everything seem more alright.

.

Chizome noticed Chiyuki return to normal over the course of a few days. She stopped looking upset every time he came home and he stopped feeling her eyes on him as he got ready for his night work. He felt bad lying to her, she was his precious little sister. But he reminded himself that he was doing the world a favor. He was doing her a favor. He was willing to do anything for her, even if she would never know what he was doing.

He would _make sure_ Chiyuki _never_ found out what he was doing.

One afternoon, Chizome stopped at a phone store. He perused the models and winced at the prices on some of them. Finally he asked an attendant, "What kind of phone does a teenager need?"

The attendant blinked, thought for a moment, then began, "Most teenagers use their phones more than adults so they need these functions over here..."

Chizome followed as the attendant told him about the different models. It hadn't been a spur of the moment thing. Chizome had been considering getting Chiyuki a cellphone for awhile. All the other middle school kids had them and next year she would be the only kid in high school without a phone. He had been avoiding it considering all the extra payments it would come with but after seeing her the other night, he decided a phone would be good. If she wanted to call him she could call him, since he would get one too. He would also be able to text her if he was running late or she could tell him if she was running late.

After hearing the prices Chizome had to make a choice.

He really wanted her to have the fancy smartphone after seeing all the options it had. He considered the sending a location feature as something great for safety if she was ever in trouble. Also they could do video calls which would be great if she really wanted to see his face. It took nice photos and he definitely was getting her a phone she could take pictures with. But the price was way over budget and he had to consider getting her the flip phone. It could take pictures, send texts, call, search the internet, but it didn't do video or have a front facing camera.

In the end, Chizome had gotten himself the cheaper phone and Chiyuki was going to get an older edition of the smartphone. It could do some of the cool features and it had the front facing camera but it was a bit bulkier than the newer phones and it didn't have fancy features like the Touch ID. Chizome was sure it would make her happy regardless since it was a huge step up from them having just a house phone they had gotten a few years ago when it was hard for the school to reach Chizome.

So Chizome waited at home that day for Chiyuki to come home. And as the time ticked on he got worried until she dragged herself in far later than she was allowed.

She blinked when she saw him, "Oh, Nii-san. You're not usually home this early."

Frowning, Chizome asked, "Where were you? I've been waiting here for a few hours."

"I've been trying to earn some extra money." Chiyuki replied, purposely vague. She put a container on the table and offered, "Cake?"

"Where did you get this?" Chizome leaned over as Chiyuki pulled the top off the dish. Inside was a wonderful looking cake. Chizome took a spoon and dug in, finding the cake to be moist and fresh. He watched Chiyuki take a bite and she grinned as she stuck the spoon into her mouth.

Kicking her feet from the chair excitedly, Chiyuki mentioned, "I'm actually so glad you're home to share this. I've been bringing home desserts, hoping you would be home to share them."

Chizome felt a pang in his heart. He took another bite of the delicious cake, "I had off today. I actually went and bought some things. I got something for you."

Chizome pushed the box he had put the new phone in forward. Chiyuki, eyes curious, gently took the top off and her mouth formed an O when she saw the phone sitting inside. She picked it up with a smile stretching across her lips and she opened the phone with clumsy swipes on the screen. She switched between the screen, taking in the apps that were on her home screen and then clicking on the contacts. In the contacts there were two contacts. Home. And one labeled Chi-Nii with an emoji heart next to it. Chiyuki hadn't called him that since before their parents had died. It was wild that was something he remembered enough to put as his contact name.

"You even added a heart next to your name!" Chiyuki laughed, "Wait, does this mean you got a new phone too?"

Chizome held up his glorified flip phone and he showed her the contacts. It had his work's phone number in it, home, and then at the top was one that read Chi-chan with a heart made from a less than symbol and a three. Chiyuki grinned wildly and she opened the photos on her phone to find a clumsy photo of her brother. She took the phone and held it up, getting both her and her brother in the screen before snapping a picture.

Chiyuki sent a text to her brother and he watched her fingers slide across the screen in unsure strokes as she tried to get the kana to work. After she sent the text to him Chizome had the same issue, tapping too many times on the kana when trying to spell something out. After he sent the text he got an almost immediate response from his giggling sister.

"Alright, how'd you get that fast in between texts?" Chizome asked, lowering his phone to look at his sister.

She grinned and flipped her phone around, "Romaji keyboard."

"I don't think mine can do that." Chizome admitted, eyeing his physical keyboard.

They played with their phones for a few minutes, Chizome amused as his sister sent him little faces made out of characters. She yawned after a minute and sighed, "I have to do some homework before bed, Nii-san. Thank you so much for the cellphone."

"It's good because now we can text each other all day." Chizome told her. Smiling, Chiyuki started to pull out her homework. Chizome leaned his chin on his hand, "Also, you aren't good enough to slip past me yet. You never answered my question earlier. Where were you?"

Chiyuki pouted but didn't lose her happy mood, "I think you should let it go for effort, and because I shared some cake with you."

Snorting, Chizome shook his head, "As good as that cake was, I want to know what kept you out so late."

"Just doing some odd jobs for people." Chiyuki told him. She flipped open her notebook and Chizome watched her flip through pages of immaculate notes. Her handwriting was far nicer than his.

"You'd tell me if you were doing something bad, right?" Chizome asked. He was worried his cute little sister was trying to make money with compensated dating. He was sure she wouldn't do that, but it was late for her to be getting home. She only got home an hour before he usually checked on her.

Blinking at her brother, Chiyuki tilted her head to the side, "You're thinking something weird I can tell."

"Alright. I'll believe you. Get some sleep though." Chizome told her. He stood up, taking the last bite of the cake and dropping the takeout container in the garbage. Chiyuki watched him get ready for work and she looked away when he pulled his bag out from under the bed.

"Have a good shift, Nii-san." Chiyuki called as he laced up his boots.

Looking over his shoulder as he pulled on his cap, Chizome returned it warmly, "Good night, Chi-chan."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **And so, Chiyuki discovers some things.**

 **I've tried to foreshadow Chiyuki's tendency to avoid the Stain situation (And other things) in previous chapters. I hope I did that adequately.**

 **Also, ffnet is letting me align text appropriately again. Woo! Lastly, I have the next few chapters typed up and I am going to attempt once a month updates. Please keep in mind, I am a college student so my time all goes to that.**

 **Fun Fact : I've been pretty inspired to write Thicker than Blood by listening to two English covers of the Tokyo Ghoul opening, Unravel, by Leeandlie and Jonathan Young. I think the tone and translation of both songs fits Chiyuki, with the Leeandlie one being current Chiyuki and the other being future Chiyuki. **

**Thank you so much to the following for reviewing (:**

 **timijaf  
chili-no-baka  
Guest  
ScarletMageRei  
SesshyXKagomeLover**


	8. The Brother Supports

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 8_

 _The Brother Supports_

* * *

The date for entrance exams was set. On the calendar in her apartment, Chiyuki circled it with a thick blue marker. Her brother eyed her as she did it, glaring at the date still two months away. She turned to look at her brother, eyes serious.

"Train me for this Nii-san. I need more leg strength I think, my morning jogs haven't been feeling as worthwhile lately." Chiyuki demanded, "Also, I'm likely not allowed to use knives or swords so I need to work on my hitting power."

"What about quirk?" Chizome inquired, already making note of what he wanted to work on with Chiyuki. He eyed her arms and legs, noting there was obvious muscle already. Her baby fat had been trained away and while there was still softness and places with healthy fat, his sister was clearly fit. She wasn't bulky like him yet but sooner than later she would likely have a body that showed her efforts.

Chiyuki hummed, "I don't think my quirk will be useful on the entrance exams. I doubt they would have us fight each other yet because some students may be coming in with no combat experience."

"Good thought." Chizome agreed, adding as an afterthought, "However we shouldn't neglect it. You never know when you'll have a new idea how to use your quirk to your advantage."

Knowing the exam ahead of time, Chiyuki already knew she didn't need her quirk. It wouldn't help unless she healed someone for saving points but she didn't really want to give her quirk away just yet. She wanted to end up at UA, but she also wanted to be in Class 1-A. If she showed her ability to manipulate her blood, they may place her in 1-B just to have Vlad King as her teacher.

"Expect a tough few weeks, Chi-chan. You are getting into UA." Chizome told her, a proud and serious expression on his face.

.

Chiyuki jogged twice a day, doing on and off sprints. She trained as she worked at the cafe, Juzou watching her in concern as she did leg exercises while she washed dishes. In karate club she went harder than ever, all the underclassmen avoiding her while her yearmates suffered. But they understood when she mentioned UA and they took it with gritted teeth. There was a little bit of grievance over it, and Chiyuki got more nasty glares from the club than she ever had before. But some understood the intensity of UA and that Chiyuki wasn't being cruel.

This was all necessary.

Sprinting through the park, Chiyuki felt her ponytail whipping behind her as she ran as hard as she could. A few people jumped as she passed, running far faster than the average jogger. A hero almost stopped her to ask why she was running but she bit out 'Entrance exam. UA' and the hero let her continue on her way. Weaving between a few poles and benches, Chiyuki jumped over a few obstacles. Her legs screamed from the effort and she slowed to a jog.

Regulating her breathing, Chiyuki pulled out her new phone and checked the time. She considered putting music on her new phone for her jogs but she hadn't had time. She passed another jogger and a glimpse of orange hair caused Chiyuki to look over her shoulder. She slowed even further, watching long orange hair swish back and forth. Chiyuki wanted to call out, 'Itsu-chan?' but who knew if it was her.

Itsuka went to UA, didn't she? In canon, Chiyuki had vague memories of the students in class 1-B. To be honest her memories of the story were starting to go fuzzy on the details after spending so much time just enjoying life as Chiyuki. But Itsuka was there in canon, she knew it. Was Gensuto there too? She couldn't recall the background classmates. Chiyuki wondered how her elementary school friends were doing regardless.

But she had to keep moving. She had to keep training. To be able to get any villain points she would need the power in her body to break the machines with just her pure physical ability. The weak point of her quirk was it could be deadly against a close-mid range living opponent, but once she had to do something against something mechanical or long distance it was all up to her human qualities.

Well, mostly human.

Certainly, the heroes in this world had stronger bodies than the humans in Chiyuki's previous life. Her brother was a good example. She had seen him jump higher than a human should be able to without a quirk, scale walls that didn't have grooves that should allow him to be able to climb, and lift things she would have thought outweighed him by a ton. Even she was starting to take after her brother. She was scarily flexible which her brother explained as potentially being from their mother's quirk Snake. She didn't have a tongue like her brother's but her teeth were sharp, giving her a terribly intimidating evil grin. He was teaching her how to train her legs to jump like him and her parkour was being worked on. She could kind of make it to a second floor if she could navigate a path up but her brother could scale halfway up an apartment building before he needed even a handhold to keep his momentum.

Chiyuki tested her parkour that afternoon, eyes finding the best path as she lightly leaped on top of a railing, ran along it, and launched herself onto the brick wall. She kicked, feeling her body's muscles scream as she pushed them to their tired limits. She got a handhold on the trim at the edge of the roof, hauling herself up with her feet pushing off. She almost tripped, rolling over the edge onto the roof and her brother would have scolded her for the clumsiness of her movements. But she had made it up, which was better than a month ago when she would try to kick up the wall and slide right down, nearly rolling her ankle sideways on the way.

Of course, she considered as she let her body rest for a moment as she stared up at the sky between the tall buildings, there was a difference between heroes and civilians.

Heroes trained for their extra ability. Her brother had worked for years to be able to scale buildings and jump a few dozen meters into the air. She was training now too and she was sure by the time she graduated she would be able to at least make it to the second floor with about the amount of effort her brother gave to get to the fourth floor. Despite that confidence, she was still not quite able to logically grasp how her brother essentially was able to run up a building.

Her body protested when she sat up and she forced herself on her feet. Popping some joints Chiyuki continued on. She still felt fear every time she had to get down from a building. Her brother just launched himself off a building with confidence and was fine but Chiyuki wasn't quite sure about his logic in that. She made a safe path down, sliding and finding dips to slow her fall in.

As Chiyuki ran home, she felt good. She had a lot of time to think on her run. Just having time to calm down and think helped her reevaluate things. She loved to think about what she could do to improve herself, and she especially loved daydreaming about what she would be able to do in the future.

Despite the good thoughts, sometimes they went in a more sour direction. She tried not to let her run get polluted by thoughts of Stain. She had trouble seeing her brother leave at night, knowing where he was going. She didn't want to avoid the problem of Stain. Not like she had been doing for her childhood.

But it was so easy for her to pretend everything was fine when she saw her loving brother.

Everything wasn't fine, but she told herself that it was. She told herself the future was uncertain and that her brother may have become Stain, but that didn't mean he would end up in the same place as canon Stain. Sometimes she comforted herself. Stain didn't kill someone every night. His body count was hardy at a double digit yet. But Chiyuki didn't want to think of the tally marks she had been keeping.

She slowed down as she approached the apartment. As she entered her home, sweat pouring off her face as she hurried to the fridge for some blood and water, her brother looked up from where he had been napping on the couch.

"Chi-chan, how was your run?"

Chiyuki smiled at her brother warmly, "Great!"

If he could lie to her with a smile every night, she could lie to him that everything was great.

.

A week before the entrance exams, Chiyuki was finishing her training. They were boxing in the gym with Chizome going relatively hard against his sister.

"You're going into high school," he had told her prior to the match, "That means I'll stop holding back."

Chiyuki was clipped by a hook and she felt it slide across the top of her head. She went in, trying to use her smaller size to muffle his reach but Chizome almost kneed her right in the face. She got the hell out of the way and ignored the sound the referee made when she kicked her brother's knee and he almost faltered. Laughing with good nature her brother increased his speed after her hit and she got a much harder clip to the head.

"C'mon, you have to last longer!" Chizome yelled, kicking Chiyuki square in the chest. She exhaled with the hit and jabbed away from him. She weaved under some punches and punched his ribs a few times.

Her efforts almost got her an elbow the referee yelled about but otherwise there wasn't anything else he could do. The referee had gotten used to their sparring over the week. Chizome had both of them forego head gear and he didn't have a mouth piece. Chiyuki was wearing one to appease the referee. They also both had shin guards, mostly to make the occasional leg clash hurt less.

The bell rang finally and Chiyuki spat out her mouth piece venomously, tossing it into the cup she had for it. Making weird faces as she readjusted to not having the damn mouthpiece in, Chiyuki noticed Chizome laughing at her. She rolled her eyes and the two sat to the side, sipping at water as they watched the next pair of fighters box each other with the appropriate equipment.

"Your control is great. I could sense the snap and power in your movements. You'll do fine in your exam." Chizome told her, "We should begin lessening your training so you can have a rest day before the exam. Your body needs to heal from all the activity."

"Agreed." Chiyuki hummed. She leaned back, switching from her water bottle to sip on some blood, "I feel confident."

Chizome scoffed, "I trained you. You should be."

"Still, I'm sure there will be a lot of quirks to overshadow me." Chiyuki sighed.

Despite her gross sweaty hair, Chizome ruffled it and grinned, "No one can outshine you, Chi-chan."

.

Chiyuki spent the day before the exam living under the kotatsu. Chizome was trying his hand at making a good meal for the night so she would have energy the next morning. Chiyuki tried to hype herself up as she read manga to calm down. Reading was better to focus on than TV. Despite that she kept sinking further under the kotatsu until Chizome dropped next to her to sit down. She pulled herself back out, sitting up next to him as Chizome hummed thoughtfully.

"Too bad you can't bring a sword." Chizome sighed, eyeing the collection on their wall.

"I'm hoping just my physical prowess impresses them." Chiyuki admitted, "I would feel much better with a sword or knife."

Agreeing, Chizome leaned back. He said, "Once you pass they'll probably have paperwork that will let you bring specialized weapons."

"If I pass." Chiyuki groused.

Chizome put an arm around her for a hug, "When you pass."

.

On the train Chiyuki had two granola bars for breakfast with a light protein shake. She carried her blood thermos with her in her bag but she had chugged until she felt her body protest that morning. She was full on blood, full on energy, and even full on confidence. She had a manga in her bag for the ride back. When she arrived in Mustafu she was glad to stretch. Hosu was the furthest ward of Tokyo from the city of Mustafu and the train route to go between them was a nightmare in length only because the shinkasen was more expensive and she didn't want to spend extra for time.

Getting to UA was easy and Chiyuki was amazed when she first started to see it. The tall towers of the building were first and as she approached they seemed to elongate further into the sky. The building was a strange shape but Chiyuki supposed that was fine. From what she remembered neither artistic medium in her past life had quite captured the grandeur of UA. The building and campus was enormous, easily taking the spot of multiple city blocks. The building was also immaculate and clean, very unlike buildings she was used to in Hosu.

Stepping through the gates, Chiyuki held the strap of her bag for support. She walked slowly while eyeing some of the other examinees who were walking into the school alongside her. A few teachers and upperclassmen pointed the way to them. The auditorium was very large once she stepped in and received her paperwork. Finding the seat with her number on it, Chiyuki sat down and tried to find familiar faces.

After a few minutes she gave up, looking down at her hands on the desk. She wouldn't know really what to look for. Itsuka had likely grown up more, Gensuto as well. Anyone she could recall from the story likely looked different from their 2D forms and it had been so long since she had considered what most characters looked like. Sighing Chiyuki started to doodle on the small sketchbook she had brought to pass time on the train.

Someone plopped down next to her. Looking to her side Chiyuki blinked when no one was there. Starting to look back at her book, Chiyuki caught sight of a pair of clothes without a body. A tank top and gym shorts with a pair of sneakers below.

"Ah, excuse me, why are you staring?" a female voice asked, a little nervously.

"Sorry." Chiyuki looked away, "I heard you sit down and was a little distracted."

"Ah." the girl mumbled awkwardly.

"It was only half you." Chiyuki told her, really hoping to fix the situation, "I have a tendency to get lost in thought too."

"Oh, well, what's your name? I'm Hagakure Toru." the invisible girl introduced herself.

Chiyuki smiled, half because the girl seemed nice and half because she recognized who this was, "Akaguro Chiyuki."

Toru was good conversation as they waited for the auditorium to fill up. She was cheerful and upbeat compared to Chiyuki who was calmer and a bit tense. Toru was excited, but nervous for the test while Chiyuki was feeling a little confident, but her hands still shook when she considered what would happen if she didn't get into UA.

When the auditorium eventually filled and the proctors walked onto the stage, Chiyuki eyed them with a respectful glance. That respectful glance was immediately replaced by a disgruntled expression as the pro hero Present Mic cleared his throat quietly in the silent auditorium and then yelled, with his quirk, "Hey everybody! Welcome to today's live performance!"

Chiyuki blinked, feeling slightly deaf as she tried to adjust to the noise. The auditorium was silent as Present Mic waited for a response. He tried to prompt them but when no one said anything he shrugged while lowering his voice a few decibels, "Hey, that's cool. I'm here to present the guidelines for today, my examinee listeners."

He screamed something that sounded like an excited 'yeah' but Chiyuki tried not to show weakness by blinking. Her ears rung a bit as his voice echoed through the still silent hall and he eagerly scanned the crowd before he went right into explaining the rules, Chiyuki feeling exasperated when he said they could bring anything they wanted. Had she been allowed weapons? She wasn't sure, however transporting the sword to school would have been a bit difficult considering she wasn't a student who had a permit to carry a sword. She wondered if her brother had a permit since he had gone to high school for a bit.

"Excuse me sir!" a voice called out from a good distance away. Chiyuki tried to squint to see, because this was likely Iida Tenya, but the auditorium was dark and all she could see was a vague shape of a person.

Chiyuki turned back as Present Mic continued the explanation. Her eyes kept flickering over to the area she now knew contained the main characters. She almost snorted as she thought of them as main characters. They weren't characters anymore, she supposed.

As Present Mic dismissed them with a PLUS ULTRA that shook through her body, and likely everyones as they seemed to have very similar reactions, they started to leave the building to walk to their respective trial area. Toru wished Chiyuki a good luck and the two split to walk towards their respective areas. Chiyuki scanned the crowd waiting by the gate to their city.

As Chiyuki watched the crowd she picked up on a few things. The worse for wear clothes. The quirks that didn't seem to be helpful. The nervous but hopeful glances.

This was the group that had no chance, she realized.

Chiyuki was bitter as she stretched her limbs, waiting for the gate to open and the test to start. How had they put together the groups? Sure, no one from her middle school was here. But of all the testing centers she had somehow managed to end up in the group with others who were clearly just here to be hopeful about getting in. None of them looking confident or ready. None of them had the clear muscle that Chiyuki had, or that she had seen on other students in the auditorium.

And none of them were like Chiyuki, aware of the secrets of the test before them.

In the distance Present Mic's voice boomed, "And begin!"

Chiyuki shot forward, overtaking the still crowd as she entered the city with a determined look on her face.

The first machine she spotted, Chiyuki launched herself towards it. She spun with a kick, feeling the machine meet her body. Chiyuki grit her teeth as she felt the sensation of the machine folding under her power. Her leg went through the machine and she was glad, because the pain would have been worse if she hadn't gone through it. She was suddenly glad for her brother's insanity at her breaking various things.

"It doesn't hurt if you go through." her brother had told her, kicking through a tree and sending the top crashing down with a loud thundering thump. How dramatic her brother had been to make that point.

Chiyuki could feel scratches on her legs from the metal but she kept her feelings forced into the pit of her stomach. She didn't want to accidentally activate her quirk, especially in a crowd where everyone was moving under a time limit.

She had taken down a second machine when the crowd caught up, almost stopping to watch in awe as she ripped the head off another bot with her bare arms. She flipped around, tearing wires apart as she ran to her next target. She was through two more when she realized something.

This testing center was for the rejects, definitely.

The machines were winning over most of the students in the center, some cowering away as the machine was on them. Chiyuki's body moved and she picked up one of the examinees as they almost got trampled by a bot. She dropped the guy and was suddenly so _angry._ Why did the school think it was okay to put most of the weak students in one group? More than half of the examinees here clearly didn't know what was happening. Most of them had no combat experience and their quirks were only half helpful. Some were lucky they had destructive quirks or quirks that could help them get out of the way but most of them?

These students would get hurt. Even if they had the prior knowledge Chiyuki had, they would have gotten hurt.

Chiyuki felt Bloodlust come into effect and she burst forward, faster than before. She couldn't feel her muscles screaming. She couldn't feel her legs bleeding as she kicked through more and more machines, the metal scraping away at her skin. She lost count of how many machines she destroyed, how many students she dragged out of harms way. She couldn't feel much over the pure anger at how all these kids had been thrown out of their league.

Then, the ground rumbled. Chiyuki finally stopped moving, her chest heaving and her voice coming out in growls as a machine turned the corner onto the main street everyone was fighting on. It was about the size of how she would imagine Godzilla would be and it loomed dangerously. The entire crowd stopped to stare in terrified awe at the machine.

Chiyuki wasn't sure what to do as the 0 point machine rumbled towards them.

.

A majority of the faculty of UA were in the large meeting room, watching the examinees in their physical test.

"How unusual. There seems to be someone strong in Group K." one of the teachers mentioned. Some attention was drawn to the group of screens for the K test center. A girl with long white hair was crushing machines one after another and her score was rising sharply as she weaved between destroying the machines for points and stopping to pull someone out of harms way.

"Usually by now the students in group K have needed to be helped by the waiting proctors." mentioned another teacher, pointing at another screen, "Look at her score."

The name Akaguro Chiyuki was at the top of group K with her numbers continuing to rise.

"Let's see how she handles this." Someone murmured as the arena trap rounded the corner.

Chiyuki finally came to a stop, gazing up at the villain with every other student. Everyone in that arena, including her, could only stare with big, exhausted eyes. Coming to her senses, Chiyuki looked around for a minute, then seemed to start yelling to the fellow students. Most of them started to run in the opposite direction and the few that didn't Chiyuki ran towards, grabbing them and pushing them into a start. As the arena trap loomed closer Chiyuki pushed the last few frozen students into running and she followed them. Looking over her shoulder as she ran Chiyuki's eyes were clearly assessing the arena trap.

"Have K group's arena trap activate an attack." the principal requested with a smile, "I want to see how that student reacts."

"A physical one?" another teacher asked.

"Of course. Anything more would hurt the students before proctors could help them." the principal mentioned, a smile on his face but a gleam in his eyes.

Another teacher turned to look at him, "Why that student? What about the student who is at number one?"

"Akaguro-san overtook him. He may have doubled nearly every other examinees villain points, but Akaguro-san has a high amount of both points." the principal gestured to the main scoreboard where the name Akaguro Chiyuki sat at the top, bouncing Bakugo Katsuki down a level and everyone else below him. The scoreboard continued to change, a Midoriya Izuku suddenly appearing in the middle of the board with no villain points but 60 rescue points.

The test ended rather anticlimactically in Group K after Chiyuki had convinced the other examinees to flee the arena trap. The physical attack had prompted Chiyuki to tackle a few students in harm's way but otherwise, it didn't seem she had the capability of being a powerhouse like the Midoriya Izuku who had completely devastated the arena trap. A few eyes were on the screens to watch the students as the exam ended. More than a few eyes were on the screen that contained Chiyuki, breathing hard as the glow in her eyes disappeared. Her legs started to shake and she shook them out.

Recovery Girl approached her after a few minutes after Group K had been rounded up, having been held up at another center by another injured student. She approached the girl who shook her head towards the woman, bowing politely and gesturing to her legs. She wiped at the blood, revealing perfectly fine legs.

As a few of the teachers discussed the exam amongst themselves, the principal was handed a folder he had requested. Opening it showed a photo of Chiyuki, long white hair down and sweeping around her in thick straight strands. Her red eyes were tired in the image but her lips were drawn into a faint smile for the camera. The principal mentally compared the student with the athletic girl in the images. Her hair had been pulled up into a ponytail with her bangs pinned back so they weren't in her eyes. The school uniform in the school photo made it hard for the principal to judge but her body clearly had some sort of training for her to be able to kick through mechanical machines.

Looking down to her quirk, the principal hummed.

"What would you consider the quirk Bloodthirst to be?" the principal questioned the hero next to him.

The man hummed thoughtfully, "It sounds like something strong."

"The information listed is brief but the quirk entails the user needing to drink a supply of blood to make up for blood lost to the body naturally. The user is able to enter a frenzy and can heal." the principal murmured, "How did this girl end up in Group K?"

"I put her there." a woman with long dark purple hair responded, "The next page has her financial status. She can't afford UA for more than a year."

"We offer scholarships." the principal mentioned, flipping the pages to her transcript, "Her middle school scores are outstanding. I am interested in meeting this student after the written exam."

"Of course kouchou-sensei"

.

Chiyuki blinked when the professional hero Midnight stopped her on her way to leave after the written exam. After a long test full of unexpected questions, Chiyuki was ready to go home. She was tired, her body aching and protesting the entire time she had been in the written test. Then as she was ready to book it to the train station, the professional hero Midnight had stopped her, smiling and gesturing for her to come over. The curvaceous woman smiled at the clearly curious expression on Chiyuki's face, "The principal would like to speak with you."

"Oh, of course." Chiyuki. bowed her head, "Could you please show me the way?"

"That's why I'm here!" Midnight led her back into the building and through a series of hallways and staircases. Chiyuki kept behind her as they kept passing the elevator to take the stair. Finally they reached the top floor where Midnight knocked on a set of wooden double doors, hardly winded as Chiyuki tried to pretend like she could lift her legs. Midnight winked at Chiyuki when a voice called from inside and Midnight opened the door gesturing for Chiyuki to enter.

Chiyuki knew the principal was a small animal creature but she hadn't been prepared for him to be nearly half her height and rather adorable. She wasn't sure what kind of animal he was but she walked forward to introduce herself. He beat her to it though.

"Hello, Akaguro-san. I'm the principal, Nezu, but everyone calls me Mr. Principal!" he introduced himself first, adding, "As you can see, I am not human."

"Um, yes. Nice to meet you. I'm Akaguro Chiyuki." she bowed her head politely. She took a seat on the couch across from the principal as he offered her tea. She accepted, holding it as she waited for it to cool while the principal stared at her with beady eyes.

"I'm sorry to ruin the surprise, Akaguro-san, but I've calculated your score already for the entrance exam." the principal mentioned, his face not giving away anything.

Chiyuki felt her heart drop. She knew she hadn't done as good as usual on the written portion because some of it was pure theory questions and she tended to get lost in thought on those. Had she passed?

The principal smiled and clearly read the emotion in her eyes, "You passed! Congratulations. We are very excited to have you as a student here." He paused as Chiyuki felt tears well in her eyes. She wiped at them, feeling a little overwhelmed by her joy.

When she had stopped tearing up the principal continued, "I wanted to go over your file with you in person as it seems to be filled out very lightly."

"I'm sorry." Chiyuki apologized bashfully, "That's my fault. My counselor and I have been arguing over high school and he might have been spiteful."

"Do not worry, Akaguro-chan. Now, your financial status. Can you explain it to me?" Nezu watched Chiyuki as her smile almost dropped. But she forced it to stay up as she gathered her words.

She swallowed, "I live with my older brother. Our parents passed away when I was very young and he raised me. Nii-san works at a garage and has been saving up for me to go to a good high school. I have also been trying to find ways to afford school."

"What have you been doing to earn money?" Nezu inquired, mostly of his own curiosity. Standing in front of him was an enigma after all.

Chiyuki seemed a bit calmer as she pulled a book out of her bag and handed it to him. It was a worn sketchbook. Nezu flipped it open to admire politely as Chiyuki explained, "I take commissions from other students. They like having comic pages of themselves drawn. I've also tutored."

"These are very nice." Nezu complimented, returning the book to her. He did think they were very nice and he respected that she used her talent to make money. Middle school students weren't supposed to work real jobs and he admired she found ways around that. He tilted his head, "How were you planning to afford UA?"

"I was intending on asking about financial aid. I also researched some scholarships the school offers." Chiyuki informed him.

Nezu smiled, "I was certainly considering offering you a scholarship. The principal's scholarship typically goes to one of the highest scores on the entrance exam, usually the top score."

Chiyuki blinked hopefully. The principal nodded, "You have the highest score, Akaguro-chan. Your physical portion impressed much of the faculty and I just graded your written portion. You have a very thoughtful mind and it is very unlikely any other examinees will have a score greater than your written one."

Chiyuki grinned so hard it hurt. She was so happy, so proud of herself. The last few weeks, her entire childhood, it all felt worth it now. All her training felt like it had just helped her accomplish a goal.

Nezu sipped his tea and that reminded Chiyuki she was holding her cup. She also took a moment to drink her tea, the burn of it going down her throat helping ground her. Nezu gently put his cup down while asking, "Now can you explain your quirk?"

"Bloodthirst." Chiyuki said, putting down her empty cup, "I am capable of healing myself and others by making a connection through blood. I enter a state where I can't feel pain and my instincts become stronger. My quirk is rather strong, but the price I pay is my body is constantly using my blood so I lose it, requiring me to drink a few cups of blood a day to replace it." It was habit now, that explanation. She supposed she should tell the man, well, animal, the harm she could do. But she couldn't bring herself to possibly ruin his good view of her just yet.

"And you've clearly had training on how to fight." Nezu mentioned, Chiyuki only blinking when he dragged her out of her thoughts.

Chiyuki nodded, "My brother. He wanted me to be able to defend myself and then trained me when I told him I wanted to be a hero."

"How long have you been training?" Nezu inquired.

Chiyuki had to think, "Maybe since I was about seven?"

"That's a long time." Nezu hummed, "Those are all the questions I had. Do you have any?"

With the meeting over, Chiyuki went home.

.

"How did the test go?" Chizome asked from the kitchen when he heard the door open and close.

Dropping her bag, Chiyuki mentioned casually, "I passed."

Pausing from cooking Chizome repeated, confused, "You passed?"

"I met the principal and everything." Chiyuki confirmed, coming into the kitchen to peer at the meal he was making, "He offered me a big scholarship."

Chizome, a big smile on his face, swung out his arms and picked her up and started to spin her around. She started to giggle and then started to laugh, grabbing onto him and burying her face below his chin.

She whispered, "I'm so happy."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I was hoping to put this up last month, but time got away from me.**

 **I'm really glad to be moving out of childhood and into high school. I'm glad I planted good roots for Chiyuki's strength. That being said, Chiyuki has the highest entrance exam score. How could she not? She has been training for years and knows the inner-workings of the physical portion of the exam.**

 **In regards to a review I forgot to respond to (I'm sorry, time gets away from me).** **The hero market is likely saturated and is a highly competitive field, the second part being shown in the show. UA, as a private institution with good connections like All Might, would likely be expensive. I'm considering UA like art school.** **Chiyuki, who is from a low income family in a bad/poor area, is not the most ideal image for a private institution nor for a hero. However in this chapter, Chiyuki is able to overcome the odds placed against her and she catches the interest of UA which wrongly labeled her as 'Probably Not Worth'.**

 **Fun Fact : Chiyuki likes wearing green and red clothing. She thinks those colors work well with her eyes.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **painfulldarksoul  
** **TECHNICALpanda  
ScarletMageRei  
Jax SmallBine**


	9. The Sister Starts High School

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 9_

 _The Sister Starts High School_

* * *

Chiyuki received the official letter of acceptance to UA a week after the exam. When it came in the mail, Chizome had been the one to grab it while Chiyuki was at school. He bragged about it at work, to which his boss and coworkers congratulated him and Chiyuki. He was so proud of his baby sister and he remembered his new phone and sent her a text saying he was so proud of her. She answered during lunch, sending a smiley face in response.

Chizome received a letter from the school as well, this one signed by both the principal and someone named Kinkaku Gin. He read it over twice, the first time mystified and the second time stunned. Gin was the financial director at UA and the letter was about the scholarships Chiyuki would be receiving. The first scholarship was actually a scholarship for special circumstance families where Chiyuki could submit waivers to be reimbursed for any materials she would have to buy for the school. The second scholarship, and the main one, was the principal's scholarship. It covered seventy percent of the cost of the school year and with the calculations and payment plan options, Chizome was rather confident they could afford the school now.

Speaking honestly, Chizome had expected the school to be far less helpful to their monetary situation.

Chizome mentioned this at work and his boss hummed thoughtfully, "Little Chiyuki-chan had one of the top scores you said, so I'm sure the school wanted to make sure she could attend."

"She had _the_ top score." confirmed Chizome, definitely bragging, "But she deserved that spot. She has been working hard for years."

"That's good." his boss smiled at him, "Chiyuki-chan will have a leg up over the other students for awhile."

"She'll blow the rest of them out of the water." Chizome scoffed proudly, a grin overtaking his lips.

.

Middle school came to an end eventfully, with a good final tournament in the karate club and the club throwing Chiyuki a small party as congratulations for being accepted to UA. Other than that the days went by slowly and calmly with Chiyuki breezing through. The bullies kept away from her in the final few weeks after the rumor went around that she had been accepted to UA.

Susume had gone pale when she had confronted Chiyuki about it, only to hear it was true, "You... you actually got into UA?"

"Top score." Chiyuki confirmed, a satisfied grin on her face, "Where are you going?"

Susume mumbled something that Chiyuki didn't catch, nor did she care about.

.

Graduation was a quiet affair. Chiyuki and Chizome walked around the school grounds while Chizome wielded his disposable camera. He took pictures of Chiyuki in the most photogenic places, occasionally being interrupted by one of Chiyuki's underclassmen in the karate club. One of them asked her for her name tag, which Chiyuki had scoffed at and ripped a button off her cuff-link to throw at them.

"Thanks senpai! Good luck at UA!" the boy had beamed, running off to a group of underclassmen, wielding the button like a trophy.

Chizome eyed him as he left, "I think he liked you."

Chiyuki scoffed, "Lies."

Ruffling his sisters hair, Chizome took a picture of her disgruntled expression.

They didn't run into Susume, which Chiyuki was glad for. She was tired of the girl. Chiyuki was confident enough to say she was sure she would never see Susume again after having to deal with her for so long.

Graduation wrapped up with Chiyuki and Chizome going out for ramen, Chiyuki slurping down two full bowls of shio ramen while Chizome smugly beat her with three of his favorite tonkatsu bowls.

.

The break wasn't entirely made up of training, as breaks usually went. Chiyuki had a scholarship to maintain which she took very seriously, however she also took paying the tuition not covered by it very seriously. She continued to work with Juzou in the kitchen at the cafe, Kasagiri offering her a waitress position after she heard about Chiyuki's scholarship.

Chiyuki beamed at Kasagiri when she had offered, saying, "Anywhere you need me."

Kasagiri laughed while Juzou grumbled, "I like my little dishwasher."

"Your dishwasher needs a promotion by now." Kasagiri informed him, turning to Chiyuki with critical eyes, "I might need to order a new uniform for you. Your body shape isn't made for the uniforms I have."

Chiyuki made a face as Juzou grinned, "Aw, is wittle Chiyuki-chan gwowing up?"

Kasagiri smacked the back of his head, "Stop harassing my girls, Juzou."

"Aw, Chiyuki-chan knows I'm joking." Juzou complained, winking at her from behind Kasagiri.

Chiyuki nodded sagely, "Juzou is an old man anyway. We have to be kind, with the dementia and all."

Laughing a full bellied laugh, Kasagiri almost choked when Juzou looked completely stunned. He pouted, "When did you get so snippy?"

.

The clash of swords in the forest wasn't out of place, but very few joggers went deep enough into the woods to hear it every morning. Chiyuki was making steady progress with her swordsmanship, Chizome praising her dedication and quick thinking. Chizome was rather impressed with his sister.

Chiyuki was a dirty fighter.

She thought quickly and not in an honorable way, kicking dirt at his face, faking shots at every turn, turning his sword against him if he allowed her the chance. She was absolutely a powerhouse in the making, with hard earned strength, but she wouldn't compare to some of the pros for a bit longer. Her quick thinking and intellect was what made her a dangerous opponent at her current place. While Chizome had taught her some of her cunning, as he knew fights weren't just a match of strength, a lot of it was Chiyuki making her own connections.

Chizome whistled as he felt the hilt get dislodged from his purposely loose hands and he slipped out of the way as Chiyuki jabbed forward with her own katana held in her left hand. Flipping the sword she had dislodged from Chizome and catching it with her own hand, Chiyuki readied to come at him with two swords. Chizome held up his hand in the signal they used to pause.

Chiyuki let out a deep breath, swords falling to her sides as her arms wavered, "That was a work out."

"Your speed is improving still. You might end up faster than me in a few years." Chizome remarked, holding out his hand for his sword. Chiyuki passed it to him and he inspected it for damage.

Humming, Chizome asked, "What makes you so comfortable with two swords?"

"Nothing really. I just see opportunity if I can have both the weapons." Chiyuki shrugged, "I feel stronger with just my katana but there is opportunity with mine and yours."

"Interesting thought." Chizome agreed, sheathing his blade and watching Chiyuki copy him, "But you will lose some strength if you clash with one hand."

"I'll clash with both hands then." Chiyuki retorted, and it sounded like there was a challenge in her words.

Chizome raised an eyebrow, then gestured towards the wooden bokken he had bought for them to practice more harshly. Chiyuki made a face but lifted two while Chizome lifted one.

Suddenly Chizome barked, "Begin!"

Faster than he had been training with Chiyuki earlier, Chizome descended upon his sister. Her reaction time was good and her instinct had been to block correctly with both bokken, but as Chizome maneuvered his bokken with precision, Chiyuki was clumsy. Her movements were well intended and meaningful, but slower and less sharp than her movements with her fists, her legs, small knives, and even with only one sword.

Chizome disarmed her of one bokken a few moments later, the wooden sword making a loud CLUNK as it hit a tree. Chiyuki quickly switched to holding her remaining bokken with two hands and Chizome hummed and called it to a stop.

"Promising. You lasted longer than I expected. Keep practicing it but I'd say just use one sword for school for now." Chizome said, smiling rather giddily, "Excited for high school?"

Chiyuki's hands shook as a mirrored smile reached across her lips, "You don't even know how excited I am."

.

 _The day_ came fast. The entire break of training and working ended so abruptly, Chiyuki hardly realized she was on the train to her first day at UA until someone asked to sit next to her. When Chiyuki looked up, she almost choked on air.

"Gen-kun?" Chiyuki asked, the words hardly reaching past her lips as she eyed the teenager in front of her. Short styled brown hair framed stylish sharp glasses and a face made of high cheek bones and a handsome jawline with most of the baby fat gone. Blinking again Chiyuki found the familiar acid green eyes, with a blue ring around his iris and a new ring around the edge of the pupil.

Blinking at her owlishly, the boy flushed and stammered, "Shi-Chi-Shi-Yuki-chan?"

Ah, Chiyuki hadn't expected such a cool looking boy to sound like her nervous Gensuto. Laughing, Chiyuki scooted over and Gensuto sat beside her, looking incredibly redder by the moment as he stared at her face. He was awkward, holding his bag against his chest like it would protect him.

"I, uh," Gensuto was looking everywhere but at her now, "I didn't even recognize you."

"There aren't a lot of white haired, red eyed teenagers out there. Especially none else that are your childhood friend." Chiyuki quirked her eyebrow at him. Her heart felt like it was going to bust! Her friend was here, in front of her, again!

Gensuto hung his head in a way that was incredibly Gensuto, but looked out of place on his new older face, "Please don't tease me. I'm nervous enough to be starting high school."

"I'm a little nervous too," Chiyuki admitted, blinking from Gensuto's oddly grown up and attractive face to the uniform he was wearing, "Gen-kun, are you going to UA?"

"Ah yes, I enrolled in the-" Gensuto paused as he looked at her uniform. She smirked when he looked up abruptly, face pink again, and he squeaked, "You too?"

"This is great!" Chiyuki beamed, "What class are you in? Maybe we're in the same one!"

"Ah I doubt that." Gensuto nervously rubbed the back of his head, "I'm in the support class."

"Support?" Chiyuki tilted her head but she gave him an encouraging smile, "Tell me about it."

"I want to be able to help people, but I'm still not very strong or physically able." Gensuto sighed. Then he blinked, "UA is... Shiro-chan, by chance, did you get the principal's scholarship?"

Chiyuki grinned a toothy smirk, "Sharp as ever, Gen-kun. I sure did."

"You must have gotten so much stronger." Gensuto remarked, eyeing her face with a distant look in his eyes and Chiyuki nearly startled when the new ring in his eye spun and moved, "Level 43. 350 HP. 90 MP, and 130 Physical. You've _really_ grown stronger."

"Compare those numbers to a pro hero for me." Chiyuki asked suddenly, "Hey, did you ever see my brother's stats?"

"Its been a long time since I've seen Chizome-san, but I recall his stats were rather high. Is there a particular hero you want to know the stats of?" Gensuto reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook that had STATS written on it in neat calligraphy.

Chiyuki was handed the book and she flipped through the book, marveling at the stats Gensuto had copied down. He had clipped photos of the heroes, put down some public information that Chiyuki was sure from their Wiki pages, and then wrote down their stats. He had a page front and back for each, with him taking note of various stat changes and notes wondering what could have caused drops.

Finding a few interesting ones, Chiyuki compared herself to Midnight. Midnight's stats were clearly higher than Chiyuki's, Level 109, 660 HP, 69 MP, 260 Physical.

"Her MP is rather low." murmured Chiyuki, "Have you figured out what that correlates with?"

Gensuto grinned, "Quirk, obviously. I've taken note of Midnight's quirk and her quirk is rather simple. If you compare it to heros who actively fight with their quirks, there is a stark difference. Look at Kamui Woods."

Chiyuki allowed Gensuto to flip through some pages, stopping at Kamui Woods. As a more recent and upcoming hero, Gensuto had extensive note on his power gain. His current stats were Level 97, 830 HP, 300 MP, 230 Physical. Chiyuki nodded slowly, then Gensuto flipped to a section he had dedicated to All Might. All Might's current stats Chiyuki choked at.

"Level 200. HP of 1200, 800 MP and 1400 Physical?" Chiyuki whispered, "He isn't human."

"That's just an average." Gensuto explained, "Not once has All Might had the same stats. His stats always change depending on what he's doing. His level hasn't changed in years, but his HP, MP, and Physical are constantly fluctuating with the lowest being 900 HP, 450 MP, and 500 Physical."

"Those numbers still sound like monster numbers." Chiyuki breathed.

Gensuto grinned, "I made a graph of the top thirty pro heroes, do you want to see?"

"Um, _yes_!" Chiyuki and Gensuto leaned over to geek out as Gensuto pulled an expensive tablet out of his bag.

.

Gensuto and Chiyuki were still geeking out when they made it to UA, walking together hunched over Gensuto's tablet as he pulled up different news articles and focused his eyes to read the stats through the screen. His eyes were definitely different, Chiyuki noted, but she didn't ask about it yet. She had learned a lot about her quirk over time and had developed it, so perhaps Gensuto had done the same.

When they reached UA, they slowed down and Gensuto put away his tablet. They walked quietly onto the school grounds, looking with starry eyes.

"It feels so much cooler now that I'm actually a student here." Chiyuki admitted, looking up at the building, "It was crazy to see at the entrance exam, but like, now it's crazy I belong here!"

Gensuto agreed, "I had to take a practical exam and I was such a nervous wreck I barely registered I was even here."

They split ways when they had to go different ways for their classrooms. He promised to find her at lunch and Chiyuki went to class with a skip in her step.

Gensuto was here. Her friend was here. She had a friend!

Opening the large classroom door, Chiyuki eyed class 1-A. A few students were already here. As she walked towards a corner front row seat, a voice beamed, "Akaguro-san!"

Spinning on her heel, Chiyuki smiled back at a floating uniform, "Oh Hagakure-san! I'm glad we have class together."

Chiyuki settled into the seat she had chosen, Toru leaning forward from the seat behind her, excitedly chatting in which Chiyuki only heard a bit, "-and I heard you were the top score!"

A fist slammed down on the other side of the room, and Chiyuki eyed a blonde boy sitting in the other corner, glaring at her. Chiyuki remembered him from the original story. Chiyuki remembered him all right. Bakugo. Loud. Selfish. Mean.

A _bully._

Chiyuki almost returned the glare but another boy turned around. He was taller than Chiyuki with dark blue hair and glasses only a little less stylish than Gensutos. He leaned forward, politely but loudly saying, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Akaguro-san! I am Iida Tenya!"

Chiyuki bowed back to him, "And you as well, Iida-san. You may call me Chiyuki."

Tenya smiled broadly, "I am glad to see another respectful student in our-" Tenya paused, almost sensing it as he turned around to watch, they all watched, as the blonde boy put his feet up on his desk. Tenya's arms twitched and he was at the desk, arguing with him in about a second.

Chiyuki smiled as she heard Toru giggle, "I think there will be some interesting characters in this class, yes?"

Toru wasn't truly aware of the irony of what she had said, Chiyuki thought to herself.

As more students came into the room, Chiyuki observed. She had taken the spot of someone in this class and as the students piled in, she anxiously tried to remember the people in class 1-A. It was a little fuzzy but as she thought, she could recall most of them. When the door slid open and the series protagonist walked in, Chiyuki looked around to see how many seats were full. A brown haired girl followed Midoriya Izuku into the classroom and all the seats had someone now.

(Chiyuki could hear the blonde boy, his angry words, harsh, sharp, _mean. She saw the way Izuku reacted to his presence, the way the blonde called them extras, the way even Iida seemed to be dumbfounded on why he was here to be a hero._ )

Who was missing?

Chiyuki tried to distract herself. She tried to avoid thinking about the blonde boy.

(She forced her quirk down, refusing to acknowledge the _thirst in her veins_.)

Chiyuki remembered the guy with the weird arms, the guy with tape elbows. Pink girl was here, frog girl, earphone girl. The bird guy, the electric blonde guy and red haired guy she had mixed up a few times were here. Sugar guy, animal guy, both of whom Chiyuki took a good bit of staring to figure out who they were. The titular characters were here: hot and cold, Tenya, Deku, Bakubitch (As Chiyuki was mentally calling him), and the cute brunette girl. The girl who created things was here, and Toru of course. Surprisingly, the purple haired ball menace was here along with the tail guy.

Who was missing? Chiyuki turned to pay attention as their teacher almost literally rolled in.

He stood up out of his sleeping bag and Chiyuki eyed the haggard looking man. His dark eyes scanned the classroom quickly as he chastised a few people and the class quieted down.

Closing his eyes and sighing, their teacher said, "It took you all eight seconds to quiet. Time is a precious resource, so work on that."

He walked towards the podium and produced a book from his sleeping bag. He simply dropped the sleeping bag on the floor, continuing to talk as he moved, "I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota." he eyed the class briefly, looking each one of them in the eye unnervingly, "Pleased to meet you."

The classroom was silent. Aizawa shifted again, then produced a jumpsuit in the schools design. He held it up, "Go put on your gym clothes quickly and head to the grounds."

When everyone was stunned, Aizawa took another sip from his snack pack. Eyeing each other in disbelief, the cute brunette was the one to mention entrance ceremonies and guidance sessions.

Aizawa simply shook his head, the ghost of an amused look in his eyes, "No time for all that when you're training to be heroes. Quickly now, no time to waste."

.

Chiyuki changed quickly with the others girls in the locker room provided by the school with lockers already set for each of them. Chiyuki was the tallest of the girls and got a good look at all of them as they introduced themselves to each other in the locker room. There were a lot of names for Chiyuki to memorize, but she could recall a few of them from the anime she had watched a long time ago.

Ochako, the cute brunette, beamed at Chiyuki after they were all finishing changing, "Akaguro-san, I heard you received the highest score on the entrance exam?"

Chiyuki nodded slowly, "I did."

"That's amazing." Ochako mentioned, "What kind of quirk do you have?"

"My quirk is an emitter class quirk. I can-" Chiyuki was cut off as the pink girl, Mina, interrupted with, "That's so cool you got the best score! Girl power!"

Chiyuki laughed, which caused a few of the other girls to giggle. They started to walk out and Chiyuki was glad the topic had been dropped. She had been hoping the more technical view of her quirk would get everyone to drop it but the convenient distraction had been way more natural.

At the field, Aizawa went over the various gym tests they would be doing. Chiyuki was still a bit out of it, from both trying to eye her class and figure out who was missing, as well as trying to ignore the itch in her veins when she felt her temper flare at the sight of _the bully._

"Softball throwing. The long jump. The 50 meter dash. Endurance running. Grip strength. Side to side stepping. Upper body training. Seated toe touch." Aizawa said loudly, catching Chiyuki's attention again, "In middle school you all did these standard tests without quirks."

Everyone was quiet as Aizawa held up a softball and offered it to Bakugo Katsuki. The disgruntled blonde took it and Aizawa questioned, "How far could you throw in middle school?"

Bakugo scoffed, "Sixty-seven meters."

With a bored expression, Aizawa told him, "Use your quirk. You can do anything so long as you stay in the circle."

Bakugo seemed to think for a moment, then with a nasty expression, moved into a throwing position. With a loud yell of "DIE!" Bakugo launched the ball, an explosion coming off from his hand that gave the ball unmatched speed and distance, Chiyuki's eyes lost it amongst the clouds. She turned to look at Aizawa who was eyeing his distance counter.

After a few silent, amazed moments, Aizawa noted in a neutral tone, "705 meters."

"The board of education has an old minded thought on testing the ability of students, requiring no quirks in physical tests. UA however has a freestyle type of learning, and quirks are part of your growth as heroes." Aizawa gestured to Bakugo, who was grinning after where his ball had disappeared, "Today I want to see your true potential."

The class broke into excited chatters. Aizawa gave them about five seconds of exclamations of 'Awesome!' and 'Cool!' before he gave them an unsettling look.

He grinned, a wild and amused look in his eyes, as he said, "As such, whoever gets the lowest cumulative score on this exam will be judged as hopeless and be expelled."

.

It took a few minutes for everyone to stop panicking enough to settle in for the first of the events. Aizawa seemed more amused than anything else as he crushed everyone with heavy, foreboding words about the unfairness of the world and being a hero.

(Chiyuki could remember Itsu-chan, with her scared eyes and she could hear the echo of an arm being snap _ped_ _and a head cracking against_ -)

The first event was the fifty meter dash. Looking at her classmates, Chiyuki deemed she would be average in this race. She expected to be the fastest of those who didn't have speed-based quirks after her extensive training, as her average in middle school had been somewhere between five and six seconds. As she lined up and readied herself for the race, Chiyuki considered forcing away her sense of pain.

Could she run faster if she pushed herself? If she couldn't feel the burn of her heart, the tear in her legs?

But Chiyuki didn't see this as worth it. She had the foreknowledge to know Aizawa wouldn't be expelling anyone. Not for the first time, Chiyuki mentally thanked herself for remembering such important details. The entrance exam had been easier with Chiyuki being aware of the hidden hero points, and now she would be calm knowing she wouldn't be expelled even if she couldn't do well.

As she heard the sound of the race start, Chiyuki took off. She surpassed the class immediately but was instantly overtaken by Tenya as he rocketed forward. His leg engines made low noises as he finished the race and Chiyuki could accept that.

She could not accept it as Bakugo started to overtake her, powerful explosions coming from his hands.

A bully, she thought. How could she let _a bully-_

Chiyuki felt the feeling in her body bleed away as she forced her legs faster, neck and neck with Bakugo as he blasted his way down the track. Reaching the end of the track, Chiyuki felt bitter as she compared her time to Bakugo. Her 4.53 to his 4.13. Chiyuki remembered to breath as she sucked her lower lip in and bit into it, tasting her blood as she felt the cramps in her legs start.

"You were," Toru came to a stop beside Chiyuki, huffing and puffing, "You were so fast Akaguro-san."

With a strained voice Chiyuki replied, "Chiyuki, please."

Toru made a noise of acknowledgment. Chiyuki stretched her leg out and grit her teeth. She tried to force the muscle to knit back together while she caught her breath. The next event was grip strength which Chiyuki was second highest in for the girls, just behind Asui Tsuyu. Both of them had beaten a few of the boys, most notably Mineta Minoru.

The long jump followed, with Chiyuki being impressed by Yaoyorozu Momo who used her creation quirk to give herself a pole which she used to vault rather far. After that was the step test which didn't have any impressive results from obvious quirks. Chiyuki's scores were all better than middle school, but she didn't block out her pain for either of those tests.

The softball throw wasn't interesting for Chiyuki. Midoriya Izuku had a rather intense moment with Aizawa, and then Bakugo had a rather aggressive display (Chiyuki tried to push down her dark thoughts, but it was so _easy to hate_ and _so hard_ to remember kindness for a _bully_ ), but Chiyuki had vague recollections of this day from the anime she had watched years ago. The most impressive part of the softball throw was the face Aizawa made when Izuku had launched the ball, as well as the intense aura Aizawa had when activating his quirk.

As for the rest of the tests, endurance running Chiyuki did well in, Aizawa stopping her, Tenya, Tsuyu, Todoroki Shoto, and Ojiro Mashirao after forty five minutes. They went immediately into the toe touch, which Chiyuki did well in but was still behind Tsuyu again.

Chiyuki smiled at Tsuyu, "Your quirk is incredibly diverse and adaptable!"

"Thank you, kero." Tsuyu responded, "You've been doing admirably as well, Akaguro-san."

"Chiyuki." she said as she considered if she could bend herself like Tsuyu if she took away her pain. She wasn't going to attempt it though, just in case it resulted in something broken that she couldn't fix.

Tsuyu replied in same, "Call me Tsu."

The final test was testing upper body strength with pull ups. Chiyuki, who ended up on the bar beside Bakugo, made sure she won. Activating her Blood Thirst, Chiyuki forced herself to continue on past the point where Bakugo couldn't physically force himself any longer. Chiyuki let go after that, spending time healing the muscles in her arms.

As the day ended and Aizawa stood in front of them, slowly a monotone grin started to slide across his face.

"By the way," Aizawa mentioned, shit eating grin terrifying, "I lied."

In the dead silence of the class Aizawa added, "No one was going to be expelled. Rational deception, meant to bring out the best of your abilities."

And then, the class yelled.

.

Chiyuki glared at the Quirk Apprehension Test results after Aizawa hung them in their homeroom. Class had been let out but she was annoyed by the results. Most notably, the top five. In order, the top five had been Momo, Shoto, Bakugo, Tenya, and then Chiyuki.

How could she have let a _bully_ -how could she let someone so _cruel,_ so _mean_ -someone so _unheroic_ to be better than her?

Gritting her teeth at Bakugo's name, Chiyuki hardly noticed Aizawa approach and push a paper towards her. She accepted it as Aizawa stated, "Individual results."

Eyeing it, Aizawa waited as Chiyuki read. After a moment, she looked up inquisitively, "...do you have a question for me, sensei?"

"Your quirk. Define it for me."

"Well, my quirk is Blood Thirst," Chiyuki paused as the last of her classmates left, continuing when the last to leave, Momo, had slid the door shut, "I lose blood constantly and have to drink it to replenish. I am capable of healing myself and others with either injection of my blood into someone's system, or myself ingesting their blood. I can enter a frenzy sort of mode, self induced but sometimes out of my control, and completely numb my sense of pain."

"Feeling, or pain?" Aizawa questioned after a moment.

Chiyuki blinked, "I can feel things, but not the impact of them, I suppose, if that makes sense."

After a moment, Aizawa nodded and walked away. Gathering her things, Chiyuki walked towards the door, said a quiet goodbye to Aizawa who waved a hand at her, and she stepped out. Chiyuki glanced down the hall to where she could see Class 2-A.

Thinking of soft green-blue eyes made Chiyuki sad, so she closed her eyes and walked towards the front of the school. She waited outside for a bit until Gensuto walked up, smiling.

"How was your first day? Your HP is somewhat low." Gensuto mentioned, eyes focusing on her.

Humming, Chiyuki took her thermos out and took an absent sip, "The hero course is certainly intense."

"The support class is somewhat intense too," Gensuto agreed, pausing and adding, "Well, rather I should say has some intense people..."

Chiyuki smirked, "I'm sure the school is full of intense people. All Might is a teacher here this year, after all."

"I'm jealous you have him as a teacher!" Gensuto admitted suddenly, blushing when Chiyuki raised an eyebrow at him, "I mean-He's the number one hero, after all."

Chiyuki nodded, and started towards the school gate, "I imagine it will be an interesting year."

For the first time in years, Chiyuki walked with someone after school.

.

When Chizome heard the door open, he cracked an eye to see Chiyuki rush into the house with an excited grin on her face. She dropped her bag against the wall as she dropped onto the couch next to him.

"Good first day?" Chizome murmured, lifting his head.

Chiyuki bounced in place, "Guess who is also going to UA!"

"From your energy, I'd say either Momma's Boy or Itsuka-chan." Chizome guessed, smiling when Chiyuki nodded excitedly.

"Gen-kun! We saw each other on the train and he isn't in my class, he's in the support course, but it's so wonderful!" Chiyuki chattered very excitedly, telling Chizome about her day in excitement. He listened attentively as she went over everything in detail. He responded with an approving nod when she spoke of her strange but strict sensei, tried to memorize the names she mentioned of her classmates, and his eyebrows knitted together when she suddenly went dark.

"There's a boy." she grit out darkly, in a way he had never heard from her before, "I, I don't think we're going to get along at all."

Chizome sat up now, tilting his head, "Am I going to have to finally take that letter off the fridge? Is he sending you sappy poems already?"

"I'd hope not!" Chiyuki exploded, "He's loud, explosive, rude, and a bully!"

Rolling off the couch Chiyuki kicked her legs about, making a frustrated grunt before huffing, "He's, he's not a hero! He's a bully, Nii-san!"

Leaning over to look at his sister, Chizome hummed, "Tell me what he did then, don't leave me hanging."

And Chiyuki told him everything. She even told him things that she still had burned into her memory from the anime, things Bakugo did or said that still resonated deeply with her. She told him about how Bakugo yelled "DIE" when he did things. How he spoke so crossly, so gutturally, so rudely and so crudely. How he was incredibly mean to a sweet boy in her class, how that poor boy flinched away from him when he moved, when he spoke, when he even breathed. Chiyuki snarled about how absolutely horrible this boy was.

Chizome thought about it for a moment, "Well, if he's as bad as you say, he won't make it."

Chiyuki raised an eyebrow and Chizome added, "Ideal heroes are selfless and kind. Someone like that, well..." A dark look crossed Chizome's face, a look that mirrored nearly perfectly the expression Chiyuki had made a few times today, "Justice will prevail eventually."

Nodding, Chiyuki went about her routine. After Chizome had left for the night and Chiyuki was soaking in the tub after washing up, Chiyuki bit her lip.

"I think something is wrong with me. When did I get so bitter? So angry? Have I... always been like this?"

Chiyuki wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hello! So, I was kind of hoping this chapter would come out after the traitor was revealed. Because I didn't want to boot out the traitor if they were a student. Unfortunately, I had to pick someone. Depending on who it is in the future, things may have to change. I likely won't catch up to the manga soon, so hopefully whatever happens I can work with. I'm also not caught up on the manga, I have only a faint idea of what happens during the Pro License Exams because I decided Season 3 peaked at All Might and had to take an excited break.**

 **Also, there a review speculating Toru wasn't going to make it and honestly, if I didn't have Toru in a specific spot in my mind, then that would have been great. I'm all for Chiyuki guilt.**

 **I'd also like to address the Bakugo situation, as I know he's a fan favorite. I'm going to say it right now; _I_ don't like Bakugo. I hate his attitude and how no one ever reprimands him for being a horrible human being. Ever since he told Deku to kill himself in the first episode, I decided it would take a lot for me to ever like him and it would take a lot to redeem him in my mind. That being said, I intend for Bakugo to be a conflict. Chiyuki and him will butt heads, but I intend to develop both him and Chiyuki as characters. As of now, Chiyuki detests him. But in the future, things will change. I won't spoil and say Chiyuki will like him, or how who will change, but the current clear hatred of him will develop. Chiyuki is bashing Bakugo currently, but she is still fresh from middle school where for years she was subjected to bullying and no friends. Chiyuki thinks that, as she has the mentality of a young adult, she wasn't affected. Chiyuki has been changing, and here, she begins to realize it.**

 **Honestly, I've been super nervous to post this chapter. It's been ready for about a month and a half now, but I've been putting it off because I'm a little scared to see how people react to Chiyuki and Bakugo.**

 **Anyway, sorry for the word vomit! I had a lot to say, haha.**

 **Thank you so much to the following for reviewing (:**

 **guisniperman  
Guest  
Demoiselle Rouge  
ScarletMageRei  
NinjaGogeta (Thank you for such a thoughtful review! I really appreciate it, and I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to reply via PM!)  
Guest  
Galarvis  
abciluvpie  
chibi-no-baka  
KrypticKoala  
Guest**


	10. The Brother Meets That Man

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 10_

 _The Brother Meets That Man_

* * *

Chiyuki and Gensuto spent more time catching up on the train the second day of school. When they ran into Toru walking from the train station, Chiyuki introduced the two and the trio walked towards UA with cheerful conversation.

When Gensuto broke away from them, Toru rounded on Chiyuki excitedly, "You didn't tell me you had such a handsome friend!"

"Handsome?" Chiyuki giggled a bit, "I suppose. He had a bowl cut when we were kids." Toru giggled at that and the two discussed the previous day as they walked to the classroom.

They reached class and sat down, roping Ochako into a riveting conversation on the Quirk Test the previous day. Eventually a few others were roped in until Aizawa arrived in the same unglamorous way he had the previous day. Morning classes went by rather boringly, Chiyuki doodling in her sketchbook and only being spooked once when Midnight caught her during her class and gushed about her nice drawing of her in her notes.

At lunch, Chiyuki sat in the crowded lunch room with Toru, Tsuyu, Ochako and Izuku. Chiyuki thought Izuku was a rather charming young man, and she considered introducing Gensuto to him. She thought the two nerds would get along swimmingly.

"Chiyuki-san," Tsuyu mentioned as she watched Chiyuki, "You seem happier today."

"Ah?" Chiyuki paused, her face in a weird expression until she evened it out, "Do I?"

"Yesterday you were much more reserved." Ochako agreed.

Tsuyu tilted her head, "And angry."

Chiyuki blinked owlishly at them, unsure of what to say. Toru saved her though, saying, "Well, everyone was nervous yesterday! And we're still trying to learn everyone in our class."

Tsuyu nodded, murmuring, "That's true. Are you shy, Chiyuki-san?"

"I wouldn't say I'm shy," Chiyuki replied, pausing to think before adding, "I've been called aloof."

Tsuyu accepted that. The conversation continued, Izuku steering it back towards quirks and theories on what they would be doing today. Lunch ended soon enough and before Chiyuki knew it, she was suddenly staring at the very cool and very _large_ number one pro hero, All Might. He came into the classroom and she could feel his powerful presence weighing down in the room. It was nearly frightening how strong this man was. Chiyuki thought back to Gensuto's hero book. This man's numbers dwarfed hers. Easily.

"Welcome to Hero Basic Training!" All Might beamed at what Chiyuki thought had to be his normal volume, then gave a rousing introduction to the class. He was loud, which Chiyuki thought was good for a teacher since it would be impossible to fall asleep in his class if he ever gave lectures. All Might struck her as the kind of teacher who would be more into practice over preach. When All Might finally announced they would be battling today, Chiyuki blinked wearily at him.

She had... a vague recollection of this. She knew there was a satisfying scene where Izuku beat Bakugo, and she was living for that moment today, but otherwise she couldn't really remember anything that happened. It wasn't like it was a major arc or something. Chiyuki's mind briefly thought to the tournament she knew would loom in the future, followed by the Stain Arc.

Would there be a Stain Arc?

Someone tapped her shoulder. Chiyuki blinked, looked at her shaking hands and stood up when she realized everyone else was leaving the classroom.

Chiyuki thanked the air quietly, "Thank you, Toru-san."

.

The costume waiting for Chiyuki partially confused her. She hadn't recalled sending in detailed notes about her costume, just requesting a body suit for now. But the costume waiting for her was an actual costume and Chiyuki wondered if her brother had found some of her sketches and threw something together. She hadn't really checked the form she sent in again and it had been left on the table overnight...

Chiyuki pulled on the skintight white bodysuit and immediately hated the color. She made a note that black would be a far better color for it, especially considering her quirk. Honestly, who had thought white was a good color for someone whose quirk was named Blood Thirst! Chiyuki had a utility belt that hooked with a samurai styled armor plate that was made of, thankfully, black leather. She had shin guards that matched, as well as pads for the back of her elbows and the delicate undersides of her arms. She hooked the main chest piece on and pulled her hair up into a bun as she stabbed two sharp hair sticks into it to keep it up. Finishing touches were black boots that fit under her shin guard and protected the back of her leg and supported her ankles.

She stood up and frowned at the heels. Heels were okay if they could be used as a weapon she decided. She wanted spikes too. Chiyuki knew that somewhere in her notebook she had redrawn the blades from Assassin's Creed but the costume didn't have a pair of those sadly. The finishing touch was pulling up the breathable skin tight mask (Chiyuki giggled, she thought she looked like Kakashi from Naruto) and adjusting the hood which Chiyuki had torn a hole in to thread her hair through. It trailed behind her a bit like a cape, and Chiyuki debated 'No capes!' but she didn't have time to think on that as she checked the knives attached to her belt and made sure the sword on her hip was attached. There were a few more areas across her body that she thought she could hide knives, and Chiyuki briefly contemplated, how cool would it be if she threw shuriken. She could definitely fit two more swords on her back too.

"You look great!" Toru gasped when she saw Chiyuki. Smiling back awkwardly, Chiyuki almost replied 'You too' out of pure reflex but managed to remember she was talking to a girl who was only wearing shoes and gloves. Privately, Chiyuki thought, Toru was incredibly brave to be walking around naked. Or, Chiyuki wondered if Toru had a bodysuit specially made to conform with her quirk? It was something that Chiyuki dearly wanted to ask, but it would be rather inappropriate.

Everyone looked pretty good, Chiyuki decided as they all met up with All Might. Clearly he seemed to agree, his fingers itching as if he wanted to take a photo. But he refrained, and allowed everyone a few moments to gaze at each other. Everyone admired each other, some vocally giving compliments, and others silently smiling as they watched. Chiyuki complimented Ochako's suit, and Ochako returned the favor.

"You have a lot of weapons on you though." Ochako hummed.

Chiyuki nodded, "I'm trained in blades." And wasn't that a cool way to say that.

All Might gathered everyone's attention with a loud clap, "All right! Let's get started. I'll explain..."

Today's assignment would be a two on two battles with one side being villains guarding something and the other side being heroes infiltrating and capturing. As All Might laid out the groundwork rules, Chiyuki looked between her classmates. Thinking back to the entrance exam, where so many other students had looked so lost and unprepared, Chiyuki wondered if anyone here was truly prepared.

Chiyuki raised her hand and All Might paused, "Yes, young Chiyuki-chan?"

"Sir, is everyone here ready for mock battles?" Chiyuki explained, tossing a worried glance around her classmates, "I know that some of us here have been trained in our quirks and combat skills, but there are others who may not have been trained as extensively. I don't find that a fair match up."

All Might blinked at her for a moment. Then laughed despite the fact Chiyuki could see he was hiding a somewhat shocked expression. He nodded brightly, "Excellent observation! While most schools would give lessons before conducting mock battles, I felt as though the best course would be to see what level each student is at."

When Chiyuki only stared at him, All Might added, "Of course, every student here is starting at the same level, essentially. So have no fear, young Chiyuki-chan."

Nodding but still unconvinced, Chiyuki listened quietly as All Might continued to explain the rules. He let them sink in for a moment when he was done, answered some more questions, then announced the first pairs.

"First hero team, Akaguro Chiyuki and Tokoyami Fumikage. Villain team, Sato Rikido and Sero Hanta."

Mind already whirling, Chiyuki observed who the names belonged to. Sato Rikido was the boy with the sugar quirk, and Chiyuki wasn't sure what to classify his combat ability at. He was a good match up for her though because he didn't have a quirk that would force her to a distance. Sero Hanta was the tape elbows guy, who was also a good match up for Chiyuki because he was also likely close to mid range.

Chiyuki and Tokoyami waited outside the site as everyone else dispersed. All Might herded the rest of the class away while the villain team disappeared into the building. Once they were gone, Chiyuki turned to Tokoyami.

"Akaguro Chiyuki, nice to meet you." she announced, bowing slightly, "My quirk is Blood Thirst and I am a close to mid range fighter. I am proficient in hand to hand combat and knives. I am decent with a sword."

Tokoyami got the hint and returned the greeting, "Tokoyami Fumikage. I am also a close to mid range fighter, however my quirk, Dark Shadow, extends to long distance. I am capable of hand to hand combat."

"From what I've seen, the villain team is made up of a close range fighter and a close to mid range fighter." Chiyuki added helpfully. Tokoyami hummed and Chiyuki thought it was rather distracting talking to him. She still wasn't quite used to speaking to a boy with a bird head.

The two turned to look at the building and they made a quick plan. Chiyuki was starting a back up plan when All Might's voice sounded, giving them the clear to enter the building. Chiyuki and Tokoyami nodded to each other before darting into the building.

Chiyuki's steps were quiet beside Tokoyami as they rushed through the halls. They strained their ears, listening for any sign of movement. For Chiyuki, her ears were probably her weakest sense. Her eyesight, smell, taste, and touch were all strong. She didn't have a particularly weak sense of hearing but it simply wasn't on the same level of awareness as the rest of her senses.

So Chiyuki saw the movement as Tokoyami heard it. She was out of the way of Sero's tape so quickly that he seemed to lose track of her. Chiyuki was on him instantly, her arms wrapping around his neck in a choke hold. For a moment Sero choked and Tokoyami stared, his Dark Shadow hardly materialized as Sero's eyelids closed and Chiyuki gently rested him on the floor.

She felt like she was blushing under her teammates scrutiny, defending herself lightly, "I _was_ the one who brought up the differences between those who have trained and those who haven't."

"Perhaps you had a point." Tokoyami allowed, eyeing Sero as Chiyuki secured him. The two were moving again in minutes.

As Chiyuki listened she mentioned, "I'm assuming that Sato-san does not have access to sugar for his quirk during this mock battle. I do not recall seeing anything with him earlier."

Tokoyami nodded in agreement. They walked in silence from there on, scouring the floors. When they reached the room with the 'missile' in it, Sato was nowhere to be seen.

Chiyuki and Tokoyami approached the missile but they were nowhere near it when Sato, faster than Chiyuki had expected from the larger boy, was suddenly on them. Chiyuki's muscle memory caused her to dodge. Tokoyami was knocked back but unharmed as Dark Shadow took the hit for him. Chiyuki attempted a back handspring to right herself but she wasn't quite a gymnast yet and she ended up rolling over, retracting her arm when it couldn't support her.

Bracing herself in a crouch, Chiyuki leapt upwards as Sato, eyes bulging from his Sugar Rush, zoomed towards her. Sato followed her surprisingly well but had to back off to deal with Tokoyami. Chiyuki flanked him, heading towards the missile. Clearly outmatched, Sato swung wildly at Tokoyami's Dark Shadow before turning then charging at Chiyuki.

Deciding to bum rush the missile, Chiyuki was sure her trained speed would get there first. And she did, placing a hand against it and turning around, confident, only for her to realize that Sato wasn't stopping. Right, she recalled slowly, Sugar Rush made him a little slower, mentally. Belatedly, Chiyuki also realized, right, this isn't my highly trained brother who knows how to stop.

Chiyuki felt the fist collide with her jaw and she saw stars as she stumbled backwards. All Might called the heroes victory as Chiyuki tried to straighten her vision again. She tasted the blood in her mouth and spit it out, forcing her bitten tongue to heal first.

"Akaguro-san, are you all right?" Tokoyami demanded, coming up to her quickly. Sato, still under the effect of his quirk, mumbled something that could have been him asking the same, or perhaps apologizing.

Spitting the remainder of her blood into her palm and absently wiping it on her chest piece, Chiyuki nodded, "Yeah, Sato-san just got a good shot in on my jaw. Could have knocked me out if he hadn't pulled it."

"...sorry." Sato bowed his head while rubbing it weakly, "Couldn't stop."

"It wasn't your fault. I should have gotten out of the way." Chiyuki assured him. She directed her energy towards her cheek and eyed her utility belt. Maybe adding a bottle or two of blood to her suit would be a good idea. She wasn't even feeling the healing of a little bruise and cut but if she had gotten truly injured, the extra blood would help.

Then she realized All Might was trying to talk to her through the announcer, "-chan, do you need medical attention?"

Chiyuki shook her head, only slightly regretting that motion, and she followed Tokoyami as they went and got Sero. He was blinking blearily at them as they untied him and helped him to his feet.

He whistled at Chiyuki, "You were fast. I had been hoping to get at least one of you with a surprise attack."

"Thank you. And don't feel bad, I've been training hard for a long few years." Chiyuki assured Sero. He nodded. The four of them met up with the group again as the next group started down. All Might gave them feedback quietly. Chiyuki went third to get her feedback as Sato was still wearing out of his quirk.

"How long have you been training, Chiyuki-chan?" All Might asked her curiously.

Chiyuki thought about it, "I started when I was... maybe seven? Eight? Seven I think."

"You're a well rounded fighter. However you never gave thought to having a teammate after planning in the beginning. And while this was indeed just a drill, had it been a real missile it would have potentially gone off if Rikido-kun had not pulled his hit." All Might noted and Chiyuki nodded firmly.

"Yes sir. I will work on my team awareness." Chiyuki bowed her head and All Might laughed.

He put a hand on her shoulder, "But I am proud of you, young Chiyuki-chan. Whoever taught you clearly trained you well. I look forward to seeing what you learn and how you grow your abilities."

"Thank you sir." Chiyuki beamed and All Might laughed again. Chiyuki returned to the rest of the class and All Might called the next group. As the rounds went on, Chiyuki planted herself next to him as he watched and remarked on the various students. Chiyuki took note of abilities and names, and finally, she figured out who was missing from the class.

Stomach boy. The one with the laser.

Chiyuki wondered where he was. Had he perhaps just been downgraded to the next class down? Who had been kicked from that class, if so? Were they important?

Trying not to think about it, Chiyuki watched the matches go on. The matches were good for making Chiyuki's point in that some students were more advanced than others. Todoroki Shoto was probably the most obvious, finishing his match easily and in seconds. The boy with the tail, Ojiro Mashirao, had some kind of training but he had been against Shoto which had made it hard to tell how good he was. Chiyuki refused to acknowledge Bakugo, even though he was a clear combat type and worse, someone who could counter her. Izuku seemed to be a strong tactical mind, and Tenya made good use of his quirk. Those were the most notable, although everyone seemed to have some idea of how to use their quirk to help them.

All Might did lose a few points though, in Chiyuki's mind. Even when another student pointed out that Bakugo seemed like he would kill Izuku, that he wasn't very hero-like. Nothing was done. Nothing would be done to curb the personality that Chiyuki _resented_.

Chiyuki was certainly bitter, and maybe partially jealous, of Bakugo. He excelled in being flashy and eye catching, dealing a lot of damage easily with his quirk. That was the area Chiyuki figured she was weak in. Sure, she could use her quirk pretty well now. It was even natural for her to use it now, in fact. However Chiyuki couldn't really think of how it would help against classmates. She could heal herself, and others. But otherwise her capability was in hurting others, and hurting them _badly_. Her quirk couldn't help her maneuver, although it did help when she entered Blood Thirst because she could extend her body beyond its limits.

She didn't have anything that would please the crowd that was observing her now.

Before she could continue worrying, All Might called the end of class.

"Good work everyone!" he praised "Everyone did wonderful! For your first exercise, I am very proud of you all!"

Chiyuki waited for more, but he dismissed them. Everyone went to go change back into their uniforms and as Chiyuki pulled off her costume, she gripped one of her knives carefully. She hadn't even used it in class. She supposed she shouldn't, she could seriously hurt someone. Knives were very dangerous, as Chizome had told her many times. They were not for the accident prone. Chiyuki was trained and confident in her abilities, but she was wary of training with these less skilled partners, when her brother could easily avoid a poor or too excellent attack from her.

As Chiyuki pulled her hair into a ponytail, Toru's uniform made its way over. The girl bounced, "You were so strong Chiyuki-san!"

"Ah, thank you." Chiyuki ducked her head, "I have been training for a long time. I'm sure I wouldn't match up to Todoroki-san."

"Todoroki-san was like, unfairly strong!" Toru agreed readily, "My poor feet were so cold. He was nice about it afterwards though... I suppose to be a recommended student you have to be special. Did you hear Yaoyorozu-san, by the way? She was so smart!"

Chiyuki had listened to Momo. She seemed like a nice girl, and very smart, but something about her Chiyuki just felt awkward about. It wasn't that they clashed personality wise, but Chiyuki just wasn't interested in being friends with her. In the future Chiyuki was sure she would like Momo more, but currently, Chiyuki was happy as just a classmate who could block out her talking.

Toru and Chiyuki continued to speak on the way back to the classroom where Present Mic was eagerly awaiting them. Chiyuki had to mentally prepare herself for his volume as she sat down, still half an ear on Toru.

.

After classes ended, generally everyone started to talk about the mock battles they had done earlier. Chiyuki though had a part time job and a train to catch, so she picked up her bag and said her goodbye to everyone. She hurried out, glaring when she realized she and Bakugo were leaving at the same time. The two didn't say a word to each other. They were almost to the gate when Izuku called out to Bakugo.

Chiyuki turned around brightly, "Oh, Izuku-san! Your arm is okay?"

Whatever Izuku wanted with Bakugo, Chiyuki didn't really care. In fact, as far as Chiyuki was concerned, if she could push Izuku away from Bakugo, she would be pretty happy. Chiyuki knew it was mostly selfish reasons she didn't want them interacting. She wasn't fully doing it for Izuku. While she definitely thought it was good for Izuku to be pushed away from his bully, Chiyuki was mostly doing it because she knew that without a doubt, she detested Bakugo.

 _How could anyone like someone like him,_ she snarled internally.

Izuku was clearly a little surprised by the pep that Chiyuki had forced into her voice. He came to a stop and while he looked like he wanted to chase after Bakugo, who had completely ignored him, he also clearly didn't want to offend Chiyuki. Trying to inch past, Izuku replied, "Yeah, I'm pretty tired though so..."

Chiyuki fell into step beside him, "May I see?"

"Eh?" Izuku held up his arm, a little confused. Chiyuki reached forward and put her hand over his, forcing out a needle of blood that immediately disappeared into his palm with a slight pinch. Izuku blinked when she did it, and after a moment, Izuku squirmed.

"Wow, you really damaged your arm. Um, I don't really know what I can do with a lot of your injury, but I can at least reduce the bruising." Chiyuki told him cheerfully. Izuku eyed his arm as some of the color faded.

"Wow, Chiyuki-san, this is amazing." Izuku gripped his fingers a few times, "What else does your quirk do?"

Willing to sacrifice a bit of herself to keep Izuku distracted as Bakugo got further away, Chiyuki explained, "My quirk, Blood Thirst, is emitter class. I can heal myself and others, but through blood contact for others. Sorry, that's what that prick was."

"Amazing." Izuku's eyes were focused, "How did you discover your quirk?"

Chiyuki thought back to the hospital. To her brother. To the sufferings of a child.

So she laughed, "Oh, you know, playing around."

She had successfully diverted Izuku's attention from Bakugo. Izuku and Chiyuki walked together to the train station where they parted ways, Izuku walking past and Chiyuki hopping onto a train.

.

"You have concerns about my students." Aizawa said dryly, looking at All Might from across his desk. Attendance book in hand, Aizawa had clearly been working when the other hero had interrupted.

All Might grinned, "Your class is very spirited and I believe a few students may need to be pushed a bit more to the right track."

"Well," Aizawa leaned forward, "I heard about your mock battles. While a good idea in theory, have you considered you may have hurt the students?"

"It was an excellent way to see their skills!" All Might returned and Aizawa nodded slowly.

Aizawa agreed, then proceeded to destroy the argument, "Yes, it is. However, Class 1-A is special in that it has recommendation students and students who passed the entrance exam. What did you learn of Hagakure and Ojiro's skills when immediately, Todoroki was capable of completely stopping them? What did you learn from Todoroki's partner in the exercise? Akaguro, who has clearly been trained by a combat type extensively, would easily overpower most students at the stage they are all at now. Bakugo and Midoriya do not get along, yet you pitted them against each other. Bakugo is also a clear combat type, but he is aggressive and lacking empathy. Midoriya, who has a powerful strength based quirk that he cannot control could have easily injured or killed another student."

With each word, All Might's aura wilted. The blinding grin remained tightly on his face, but Aizawa was easily poking holes into him.

"As the more experienced teacher then," All Might requested once Aizawa was done ripping his idea to shreds, "What do you suggest?"

Cracking his knuckles, Aizawa grumbled, "Use what you learned. Despite the method, you clearly realized some students have issues you need to focus on."

"Hm." All Might wasn't leaving his desk, despite Aizawa intending the conversation to end there. When All Might still hadn't moved, five minutes later, Aizawa turned his attendance book and pointed to a scowling blonde.

"Are you concerned about Bakugo Katsuki?"

All Might blinked, "Yes, I-"

Aizawa's finger moved, "Midoriya Izuku?"

"A bright boy-"

Tapping Todoroki's stoic face, Aizawa asked, "And Todoroki Shoto?"

All Might brightened, "He needs guidance-"

Aizawa rested his hand finally on a smiling white haired girl, "Akaguro Chiyuki."

"If you don't let me speak-" All Might, whose grin was starting to fade, began-only for Aizawa to cut him off.

"These four students are currently the most notable problems in the class." Aizawa stated, "Bakugo with his lack of empathy. Midoriya with his lack of control. Todoroki, who was admitted through recommendation, with reservations about his quirk. Akaguro with her prior combat training."

All Might was allowed to speak now, so he did, "I understand young Bakugo is indeed... volatile. Young Midoriya is a bright lad, who I'm sure will learn quickly. Young Todoroki indeed seems to be struggling with his own power." All Might paused, "Forgive me, but how is Akaguro-chan's prior training an issue?"

"Whoever trained her is aggressive." Aizawa said, leaning back, "She was physically capable of breaking the entrance exam bots with her bare limbs, something that we would start to expect from third years. While reviewing her paperwork, she has advanced knowledge in knives and basic training in swords. She was a prime member of her middle school martial arts club and notes from her adviser mention she was rough with the other students."

All Might thought about it for a moment, "...Akaguro-chan so far has seemed very agreeable."

"Watch more closely then." Aizawa stated, pointing a finger to Bakugo in his attendance book, "She is developing an extreme dislike of Bakugo. She doesn't realize that her glares and grimaces are visible, even trying to hid them."

"They're teenagers. Isn't it common for them to have rivalries? Maybe Akaguro-chan li-" All Might was once again cut off.

Aizawa snipped, "If you continue that sentence, this conversation will be over."

All Might stopped the sentence, thinking for a moment before carefully questioning, "Then, if Akaguro-chan's attitude towards Bakugo-kun is a problem... what of Midoriya-kun and Bakugo-kun?"

And with a sigh, Aizawa realized that he would not be getting rid of All Might any time soon.

.

Chizome had a rough night. He was sore, more than a little bloody, and he just wanted to wash off and go to bed. He could feel the dried blood peeling under the work clothes he had pulled on to walk home in. He had gotten away with a big name tonight though, which had made the struggles worth it.

The hairs rose on the back of his neck and he paused, taking in his surroundings. No one was visible and despite knowing someone was watching, Chizome pretended to shrug it off. He walked along the street, playing up his soreness and wondering if his pursuer would take the bait. He moved slowly, not wanting to bring his stalker home to his cute little sister.

A man stepped out of an alley and remained partially hidden by shadow. He was dressed nicely in a well made suit with the shadows warping around his torso. Chizome did not like that he could not make out this mans face. Was it a quirk? This man was rather confident in himself, approaching in such a direct way.

Stain did not like the arrogance of this man.

"Akaguro Chizome." the man spoke, a deep lull in his gravelly voice, "Or, as I would prefer, the Hero Killer, Stain."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Naming chapters is hard since I want to do every other chapter Sister Brother but Chiyuki is getting super focused on and like, Chizome is kind of on the back burner just doing his thing as Stain. To explicitly clarify, he goes out nearly every night but only actually kills every once in awhile. He spends time gathering information and planning, as well as cleaning up riffraff with the influences of Stendhal still there.**

 **Also, classmates. So for names, it's kind of awkward. I want to use their first names, but in the show, their last names are more prominent. I decided to use whichever is more comfortable to type and associate with the character, and the way the characters refer to each other will be more in tune with honorifics and propriety.**

 **Sorry to ramble so much, but, hooray! This is the 10th chapter, so we're in double digits now! I think this chapter also makes 75,000 words? We're at a novel length! I think 75,000 words over a year, especially a year with me busy at college, is a pretty awesome thing. I'm glad that you all are enjoying this fic, and I hope you all continue to enjoy it for the many, many more words and chapters to come!**

 **Lastly, I'm having a minor operation in a few days and would appreciate kind thoughts. I'm very anxious about health related things, so I've been working myself up over it. I should be fine as it's quick and simple, but I'm always worried. I've written the next few chapters out, so I should have a chapter up in August, but if anyone gets worried, I wouldn't mind a PM to check on me, or even if I lose track of time and suddenly it's the end of September.**

 **Fun Fact : I read a theory somewhere that Bakugo would possibly smell like caramel or sugar because of how his quirk uses his sweat. I am obsessed with this idea, notably, how pissed off Chiyuki will be that he smells so good all the time. **

**Thanks so much to the following for reviewing (:**

 **Images of the Lost  
Dreiundzwanzig (Oh wow thats super neat math. Thank you!)  
areyouseriousstopwastingmytime(;))  
nene  
Stickaroo  
Eclipse130  
Ceralyn  
RochuRobalo(Bigmood. Ball menance was originally gone in my outline but I ran into things I was unsure of)  
Alien-Queen-Stan(I am anime and wiki lol)  
588963-B(Oh neat idea! I'll keep that in mind! Thank you!)**


	11. The Sister is Unforeseen

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 11_

 _The Sister is Unforeseen_

* * *

Chiyuki was dutifully taking notes in her planner when the trip to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or the USJ, was first mentioned. The name USJ rattled in her brain for a few solid moments and it settled with a vague memory of a short arc of a few episodes.

"This trip to USJ will be Wednesday afternoon to give us a preliminary assessment of your rescue abilities." Aizawa lectured as he lazily observed his students, "On the bus to the USJ I will give you all more information. Currently, there is a different matter you all need to decide on."

The class waited in anticipation and Aizawa smirked, "Class representatives. Your homeroom needs a class president and a vice president."

Not particularly caring about this, Chiyuki allowed herself to zone out. She considered more about the USJ, tapping her pen against the spot in her planner that had USJ written down. Chiyuki knew her memories were starting to go a little fuzzy. She could remember the important things, the big potentially life altering events. But USJ was pretty fuzzy. From what she remembered it had been rather short, and it was the first appearance of the League of Villains. Other than that, she only recalled Aizawa would get very injured as something relatively important to note.

Chiyuki eyed her teacher, and he caught her eye. He raised an eyebrow at her, and Chiyuki blinked when Izuku tried to get her attention with, "Chiyuki-san!"

"Yes?" Chiyuki pretended she had been paying attention.

"We're voting on class president and vice president."

Toru seemed excited, tapping her pencil on Chiyuki's desk, "Chiyuki-san would make a great president!"

Blinking, Chiyuki stammered, "Um, I don't think so. I'm not the most... personable."

"You have shown yourself to be very capable!" Izuku assured her, a big smile across his face.

Chiyuki, scratching the back of her head, stuttered, "Um, I nominate Izuku-san, then!" Chiyuki thought he was rather personable, "Or, Iida-san." And as everyone seemed to look at her, Chiyuki added, "Or Yaoyorozu-san."

"Are you sure?" Izuku asked, rather unsure himself. But Chiyuki had gotten the ball rolling, and a few others piped up their thoughts. Leaning back, and out of everyone's sights, Chiyuki allowed herself a moment to breathe.

.

At home, Chiyuki made a bullet point list of what she could remember from the USJ part of the original story. After bullet pointing things she tried to construct a timeline of events, starting with how they got there and the villains essentially teleported in, to the students being split up, to eventually All Might getting there. Chiyuki hummed and tried to connect a few things, but Chiyuki gave up after about an hour.

She just couldn't quite remember everything, no matter how hard she tried.

That was a rather terrifying realization. Chiyuki sat in pensive, tense silence as she bit her bottom lip. It wasn't good that she was forgetting things. She knew that she had the important things down, but the little things would make things easier for her. Should she write down what she remembers? No, no, Chiyuki scratched that. It would be dangerous if she wrote down any knowledge of the future, or of anything that Akaguro Chiyuki had no business knowing.

Thinking that, Chiyuki sighed at her bullet point list and timeline. She walked to the sink, ripped up the paper, and dropped it into the garbage disposal. She turned the water on and let it go for a few moments until Chiyuki was sure her paper was probably too destroyed for it to ever be seen again. Grumbling to herself, Chiyuki started preparing a quick dinner while doing homework at the same time.

Chizome came home as Chiyuki was setting the table, and Chizome stopped to press his face into Chiyuki's hair.

"Bad day?" Chiyuki asked.

Grunting, and reaching for one of the pickled vegetables Chiyuki had experimented with, Chizome replied, "Long one. How was yours?"

Chiyuki took her spot at the table to begin eating while her brother discarded anything he was wearing that was stained with oil. Much more comfortable in his undershirt, Chizome pulled out a chair and snapped apart his chopsticks. Once Chizome began eating, Chiyuki shrugged, "It was normal. We have a field trip on Wednesday."

"Oh?" Chizome prompted her to go on.

Rather blandly, Chiyuki explained, "They did a test of our combat abilities last, so now they want to test our aptitude for disaster rescues."

"Makes sense." Chizome spoke through a mouth full of food, "How do you think you'll do?"

"Perfectly." Chiyuki laughed, then more seriously considered the question. It took her a moment to think of an answer, "I'm definitely very ahead of my classmates in combat and physical training. My quirk isn't well suited to disaster rescue but I've been testing the ability to enter Bloodthirst to force myself beyond my limits. So, I think that as an initial assessment, this trip will go very well."

Of course, USJ would go well, Chiyuki was sure. If no one had been hurt badly in the story, especially with some of the atrocious combat abilities Chiyuki had witnessed during their first class with All Might, then Chiyuki would definitely survive.

Chizome hummed, "Forcing yourself beyond your limits is a dangerous idea, Chi-chan. I've told you that you need to watch your awareness with blades precisely because you can't feel anything when in Bloodthirst. If you can't feel your body telling you to stop, you could hurt yourself badly."

"I know," Chiyuki retorted softly, "I get your point. I haven't used it for anything far beyond my limits. I used it to do more pull ups, and run faster, and little things like that."

"Little things like pulls up can shred the muscles in your arms, and little things like running past your limits could overwork your heart." Chizome stated, voice strong and firm. He eyed Chiyuki, then sighed, "I don't like the idea, but it's an idea with good theory behind it. Just please remember that your body has reactions for a reason, and you should usually listen to them."

Chiyuki reached forward to put her hand on her brothers arm. She smiled at him, "Nii-san, don't look so worried. I'm being careful, and I'm getting stronger."

"I know." Chizome smiled back at her despite the stormy look brewing in his eyes, "I know, Chi-chan."

.

Chiyuki was making adjustments to her costumes design as she settled on the bus Wednesday morning. She was dressed in her hero costume that she had worn a few times more since the combat assessment. Aizawa, after being prodded several times, had given her the forms to fill out for changes, additions, and anything Chiyuki needed.

"I'd recommend filling it out and going to have a talk with Majima-sensei in the Costume Design Studio. Generally we don't have students alter their costumes until after summer break, but you seem eager so I'll allow you to try." Aizawa had, somewhat begrudgingly said as he looked around in his binder for the right paperwork.

Now on the bus, Chiyuki was sketching down a few ideas and writing things down. She wondered if Gensuto would be able to help with some of the more technical ideas she had? Especially the wrist blades. Chiyuki knew for a certain she wanted wrist blades.

"Alright is everyone present and seated?" Aizawa droned from the front of the bus, eyeing his excited class as the bus pulled into motion.

Toru called that she was present, and Chiyuki heard the seat next to her move as Toru leaned closer to see what Chiyuki was doing. Feeling Toru's breath, Chiyuki could tell generally where Toru was based off the small cues.

"Oh, but I like your white bodysuit!" Toru commented, noises suggesting she was tapping on the paper, "Most of your design is black, so the white breaks it up nicely."

"What if I change the leather armor to red, then?" Chiyuki offered, explaining, "White would be a hassle with my quirk."

"Mm, red is a dark color too." Toru, leaned back, the breath no longer hitting Chiyuki's face.

Chiyuki hummed, "I think Aizawa-sensei just gave me the paper so I would stop bothering him, so I think I'll have to stick with the white body suit for awhile. I'll see how it goes."

Toru and Chiyuki continued to idly discuss Chiyuki's costume until the bus pulled up to USJ. As they unloaded the bus, Chiyuki eyed the building. She forced her face to remain neutral, and not show the sudden butterflies that were in her stomach. It had been easy to say that things would be fine up until the moment before everything would not be fine.

"Everyone, please give Thirteen your full attention." Aizawa announced, and Chiyuki forced herself to look at Thirteen.

Thirteen wore an astronaut costume with a completely dark helmet. The glass appeared to be translucent, so Chiyuki was unsure of if it was a trick of the light or if Thirteens quirk caused the darkness. Regardless, Thirteen had a soothing ambiguous voice and delivered information in a calm, succinct way. Chiyuki easily forgot about the impending disaster as she listened to the brief lecture, taking mental notes.

Stepping inside USJ was surprising, because the building was far larger than it had appeared from the outside. It had several terrain parks with a central hub that was empty and flat, aside from a fountain that was spurting water directly in the center.

"Okay everyone, now I would like to discuss quirks." Thirteen began as everyone gazed around them in wonder, "Now, is everyone here aware of my quirk Black Hole?"

When everyone nodded, and Izuku even spoke up to give a quick explanation, Thirteen nodded, "Well, as Midoriya-kun has pointed out, my quirk has been used to save many people. However my quirk can also kill very easily."

The tone shifted suddenly, and everyone quieted down. Chiyuki could feel her blood pumping, as she always could, but for a moment she wished she could forget about her quirk. She considered zoning out this part of the lecture, but Chiyuki decided that wouldn't be fair to Thirteen.

When Thirteen was satisfied with the quiet class, they continued, "Some of you also have quirks like this. In our society with regulated quirks, this is something that is not always clearly seen. Some quirks have greater capacity to kill than others, but please remember that the capacity is there. To help or to hurt, most quirks are capable of both. With one wrong step someone can be hurt."

Chiyuki tried not to think of poor Itsu-chan, _so so scared of blood that was so so red_.

"So far you have had a physical assessment and a combat assessment. Today is a fresh start. It will be where you begin to learn how to save people with your quirks. Today when you leave here, I hope that you leave with the understanding that your quirks are to be used to help others, not to hurt." and Thirteen finished with a flourish.

While everyone clapped, Chiyuki felt herself clapping along quietly. She could remember the feeling as she _bit into her attacker for his blood,_ she could remember the feeling of _controlling his body_ , she could remember-

The lights sputtered around the complex, the fountain in the middle having trouble as the air itself around it seemed to twist. A smokey purple black cloud twisted outwards, growing and growing. From the darkness stepped out a figure, and the students and two faculty watched on in momentary stunned silence.

Then Aizawa was in action, barking orders to the students to group together and for Thirteen to protect them.

Chiyuki blinked slowly.

So it was beginning.

.

Chizome was hard at work, on his back rolled under a car, when he was hit with a sense of foreboding. Pausing from his work he pushed himself out from under the vehicle to sit up and take in his surroundings. Nothing was amiss in the garage. His boss could be heard laughing cheerfully from his office, and low music played through speakers. His workmates were talking casually as they worked.

Nothing was wrong.

So why, Chizome wondered cautiously, was he feeling such an ominous feeling?

.

Chiyuki breathed in deeply as whispers started among the students. More and more villains exited out of the cloud with Chiyuki eyeing the one she could vaguely remember as Shigaraki, and the Nomu. Aizawa and Thirteen bit out orders, for Denki to try and reach the school, for someone to try and call. Theories were thrown around as to what was happening.

But Chiyuki didn't really come to her senses, truly horrified at the dozens and dozens of villains coming forward, until Izuku demanded, "Are you really going to fight them all by yourself, sensei?! Eraserhead's fighting style... even if you erase all their quirks..."

Not amused and straight to the point, but still a sarcastic draw in his voice, Aizawa said, "You don't get to being a hero with only one trick."

And then he launched himself off the platform. There was a long series of steps down that Aizawa nearly appeared to ghost over, so Chiyuki was sure they had a good few moments before any villain with legs could climb those stairs.

"Come on!" Thirteen called, "We're evacuating!"

The class turned to run, and Chiyuki gave a last look towards Aizawa before she hurried after them.

I'm not a hero yet, she told herself. I can fight one guy, two guys at once maybe, maybe even three. But I can't do dozens yet. Even if I stack them like I was taught. Even if I tried my best. Chiyuki told herself these things so that she wouldn't feel bad that she couldn't do anything to help Aizawa. She told herself that there was nothing she could do here.

Then she skidded to a stop as a wispy, purple figure appeared in front of them. He did not take the form of a man, choosing to appear bigger, larger, and more general with only eyes to stare at them.

"Nice to meet you." he greeted, oddly polite, "We are the League of Villains. It may have been presumptuous of us, but we have invited ourselves in to the home of pro heroes, UA High School, to see the Symbol of Peace, All Might, take his last breath."

When the group in front of him said nothing, whether from stunned silence or confused silence, the wispy man continued, "However he seems to be absent. Has there been a change? He was supposed to be present. But, no matter..." Thirteen tensed as the wispy man grew bigger, larger, and before Thirteen could do anything, Bakugo and Kirishima moved forward.

"No." Chiyuki breathed, realizing at the same moment they moved.

This was a poor match up for someone like her and Kirishima. They were physical fighters, and even Bakugo was a physical fighter. A man made mostly out of smoke... they couldn't hit him (Chiyuki couldn't remember-did this man have a body?). Even as Bakugo let out an explosion, the wispy man seemed unmoved. In fact, he seemed more amused than anything.

"Ah yes, as students at this prestigious high school, you are all golden eggs. So I shall do my job to scatter you."

Before anyone could react the smoke burst forward, and overtook all of them. Chiyuki covered her eyes, trying to find someone to grab onto. She felt a hand grab her arm before suddenly they were elsewhere, being dropped into a new area of USJ.

At the blistering heat, Chiyuki realized almost immediately she had been dropped into the fire zone. She landed silently, and she took in who had landed beside her.

"Ojiro-san!" Chiyuki whispered, as Toru's voice added, "Chiyuki-san!"

Looking around, Chiyuki surmised the three of them had been dropped together due to them grabbing each other. And almost immediately she could see the shadows of villains approaching. Unsheathing a sword, Chiyuki said, "Try and move together towards the central plaza. Take down as many as you can but keep moving."

"Sounds like a plan!" Toru agreed, floating gloves tightening into fists. Ojiro had no problem with the idea and before any villains moved towards them, Chiyuki shot towards one that was in the way of her planned path to the central plaza.

The villain sputtered as Chiyuki, not wasting time, forced herself into Bloodthirst and exuded an aura that scared not just the villains Chiyuki was rushing, but her two classmates.

"She's like a different person." Toru whispered, stunned, as Ojiro turned to kick a villain sneaking up to them. Toru yelped, "Right, sorry, Ojiro-san!"

Chiyuki worked with a vengeance, making a display of the first villain as she gave him shallow cuts, forced him into a corner, and landed a solid hit with the hilt of her sword at his temple. He crumpled to the floor and Chiyuki moved on, dodging a fire based quirk and not bothering to be careful as she swung forward with her sword. Her blade hit bone and for a moment, Chiyuki was a little freaked out.

But that was only for a moment, because the instinctual pull of Bloodthirst had Chiyuki already pulling her weapon back to dive in with an elbow to the mans solar plexus. Chiyuki swept his legs and before her mind caught up with her body, she was stomping on his legs with the intention to break to make sure he didn't get back up.

Two tried to approach Chiyuki at once next, but Chiyuki had a goal that was behind them. One of the two had a pipe and they were Chiyuki's first target. She swept under their first swing and nicked their leg with her sword as she stacked her opponents. With one behind the other, Chiyuki only had to bother with one at a time. She dove forward after almost getting clipped by the pipe, and she felt her sword pierce her opponents thigh. Letting go of her sword for a moment, Chiyuki dipped down then came up again with all her force coming in as she grabbed him by the throat. Tilting his head back Chiyuki arched him into a throw that lost some momentum as she yanked her sword back.

When one enemy was thrown into the other, knocking both to the ground, Chiyuki moved on. She cleared a path for Toru, whose physical combat wasn't lacking but definitely wasn't as advanced as either of the two she was with, and Ojiro, who brought up the rear. Toru was both impressed and horrified by the systematic and ruthless way Chiyuki moved. Her body was efficient and her moves clearly practiced. A few times Chiyuki shifted to prevent a lethal hit.

Chiyuki wasn't trying to kill.

But it sure was hard when about a dozen enemies were charging forth and you needed to get rid of one before the next got to you.

The fire zone wasn't very large, and with Chiyuki's systematic and practiced movements leading the way, the group made their way through it. The enemies with some semblance of self preservation got the hell out of the way after watching Chiyuki slip up and nearly take the arm off of a man with a strange body morphing quirk. Chiyuki, if anyone saw the panic in her eyes as she remembered a man whose fingers turned into knives, no one was able to say anything.

"Shit," Chiyuki swore as she disengaged from the man who was now wailing in rage and pain as his arm hung on by a few threads, "Ah, fuck."

But Bloodthirst pulled at her again and any empathy Chiyuki had in the moment was gone as she ducked under someone else's sword. Chiyuki backed up, wielding her sword with one hand as she grabbed onto her utility belt and threw a knife at her opponent. The villain blocked it with their sword, giving Chiyuki the time she needed to move in and stab into their shoulder to try and rid them of the possibility of movement.

Chiyuki, momentarily, wished that she could just kill them because of how much easier it would be.

No, Chiyuki tried to tell herself as her body moved to collect her knife and throw it at the next challenger, no I'm a hero I do not kill.

The trio of Chiyuki, Toru and Ojiro surged forward out of the fire zone and eyes from across the center area flickered to them. They saw the trio, Chiyuki, her white body suit stained red in splotchy patches while her sword dripped blood. Ojiro had a large burn across his tail but otherwise was fine, if very winded. One of Toru's gloves was gone, but the glove that still remained was in a tight unwavering fist.

"No!" Aizawa yelled as a Nomu that had been facing him belatedly swiveled an eye to look at them, "Get out of here!"

As the Nomu turned towards them, muscular body bulging and eyes completely empty of any hint of anything, Chiyuki felt her blood suddenly run cold.

Where was Izuku? Izuku was the only one with the potential to do anything-

And then Chiyuki was ducking, her body moving as her mind tried to catch up. Ojiro's tail didn't do anything to block the strike as he threw himself over Toru. Both of them went flying as Chiyuki felt the wind tousle her hair from the speed at which the Nomu had thrown a punch. Its eyes sagged down to find her and Chiyuki got the hell out of range, backpedaling with a firm grip on her sword as she tried to think-what could she do?

Her eyes landed on the man plastered in hands.

Kill the man who was calling the shots, and maybe the monster would stop? No no, the Nomu doesn't-

Think, thi _nk, think-_

There is no time to think.

Move.

Chiyuki surged forward, ignoring Aizawa trying to give her commands in the background. She more so felt the Nomu move than anything else, and as she tried to get out of the way there was a sudden _emptiness_ in her arm as she was blown across the ground, tumbling and hitting it faster than her brother had ever thrown her. She landed in the water at the edge of the far, other end of the plaza with a large splash. For a moment Chiyuki was in shock, but she didn't dare try and breathe for fear of ingesting the blood that she knew was in her mouth. She spit out into the water, choking and sputtering until she was able to orient herself and force her head out of the water.

Vision tinted red, Chiyuki breathed with her mouth open as she tried to assess her physical condition. There was an odd sensation in her arm and when she looked, she had wished she hadn't. Her left arm was completely broken, a bone protruding from where she had tried her best to block the attack. Her sword had taken a good piece of force and had broken completely, the handle floating some ways away while metal shards glinted along the path she had taken.

Chiyuki really didn't want to leave Bloodthirst, because she was sure the pain would be unbearable. She was sure she was injured within her body, definitely bruised with multiple cuts and scrapes. Her light armor had saved her a bit but doing a preliminary scan of her own body, and Chiyuki decided that she was going to do an in depth study of anatomy after this, she tried to figure out if she would be safe to move.

"Chiyuki-san!" hissed Izuku, as he, Tsuyu, and Mineta quietly swam over as what appeared to be a whirlpool sank a ship in the distance, "Are you okay?"

"I can't feel anything at the moment, but if I get hit again and cough up blood my sense of pain will come back." Chiyuki whispered back, testing her moment slowly. Chiyuki unsheathed the second sword from her back, and wondered if maybe a third sword, maybe a smaller tanto, would be a good investment to her equipment. Throwing a look to the broken sword, Chiyuki felt bad. Technically, all her weapons were her brothers.

"Wait, are they leaving?" Tsuyu questioned softly, and they all turned to look where Aizawa, relatively unharmed but definitely out of the fight, was trying to stand against the villains. The Nomu stood ominously beside Aizawa, watching him with empty eyes. And then, the hand man-Shigaraki, Chiyuki remembered- turned to look at them.

He was fast, but not as fast as her brother. Chiyuki rose up out of the water, a scream squashed in the back of her throat as she could tell that things were just _not okay_ in her body, and she was prepared to meet Shigaraki head on. But as she stepped out of the water her leg faltered and Chiyuki realized, eyes quickly shifting down to look before looking back towards the oncoming villain, her leg was also broken. Stumbling to the side Shigaraki bypassed her, his arm outstretched and reaching for-

-his hand wrapped around Tsuyu's face-

And nothing happened.

Chiyuki, a rage filled scream in the back of her throat, forced herself forward on unsteady legs as she tried to stab Shigaraki through his side. But he moved, ducking out of the way and tsking, looking towards Aizawa before trying to reach his hands around Chiyuki's sword. Chiyuki retracted her sword, reaching her own good arm out and forcing the blood out.

Shigaraki's eyes widened minutely, but his reactions and senses were good and he avoided the blood. Chiyuki grit her teeth and swung her arm, trying her damnedest to get even the smallest speck of blood to land on him. But Shigaraki had figured out her goal, and he disengaged, moving right into the path of Izuku who had his arm winded back.

And then Chiyuki was blown backwards by the burst of power that came next. She rolled, and bumped her head on her way. She came to a stop on the barrier by the next area, and a wounded Ojiro pulled her backwards slightly before Chiyuki let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Her senses were coming back as she coughed up blood, vision dotted by spots as everything in her body hurt. Her arm, her leg, her chest, her abdomen, her entire body. Everything hurt in ways that Chiyuki had never felt before. Ojiro stopped trying to move her and Chiyuki, given a moment to come back to herself, tried to force her body to heal. But her body couldn't put her broken arm back in place, and she couldn't knit the bones back together like she could fix her muscles and skin with her blood.

Maybe in the future, if she evolved her quirk, but right now, Chiyuki couldn't do anything other than reinforce the muscles around her leg. Chiyuki had, or so she thought, at least a broken rib or three, and maybe a concussion. Chiyuki wondered how she was doing on blood, because she definitely didn't feel like she was doing very good on blood.

"Thermos." Chiyuki spat, "Water bottle. Belt."

Ojiro didn't understand, but Toru did, an invisible hand unhooking the bottle from her belt and untwisting it. Chiyuki, with her not-broken arm, grabbed it and chugged it. She felt the blood drip down her lips and down her neck but she didn't care. She needed the extra boost.

When was help coming? The rational side of her brain demanded, where is All Might? He's supposed to be here soon-

Chiyuki dropped the bottle both because it was empty, and because she was very startled when suddenly All Might burst through the doors of the USJ with enough force that everyone stopped to look. All Might bounded down to the center area in only a few steps, holding a blinding yellow suit jacket off one arm as he took in everything with a smile. His face tensed as he took in Chiyuki, Ojiro, and Aizawa. All three were worse for wear and bleeding heavily.

He disappeared to Chiyuki's eyes, moving so fast that she hardly was able to perceive him as moving. Part of that was Chiyuki, whose vision was filling with spots, was slowly losing consciousness. She was fighting to keep awake, forcing her body to knit wounds back together. But as she forced herself she could feel her blood lessening.

"S'not fatal." Chiyuki assured herself out loud, voice raspy and her pupils dilated enough that Ojiro had to look away, "'m gon be 'kay."

"You'll... you'll be okay." Toru agreed, voice haggard. Her other glove was missing and the only thing that gave away that she was here was her shoes.

Chiyuki grinned, blood dripping from her mouth from where she had accidentally bit through her lip. Then Chiyuki was unconscious, the unsettling grin still there.

.

Chizome felt the hairs on his arms go up when the phone rang in the office. He looked up at the windows as his boss answered, and he started putting his tools down. Chizome wasn't psychic, but he had a gut feeling that something had gone wrong with Chiyuki. And he was right when his boss called for him, a worried expression on the mans face, "UA called! Chiyuki-chan is, um, badly injured."

"Badly?" Chizome repeated back rather stupidly, not expecting that, "How badly?"

"They uh, specified a little bit." his boss said awkwardly, the bigger man looking far more uncomfortable than he ever had, "Uh, don't worry though! But, Chiyuki-chan has a few broken bones."

Chizome felt his heart stutter. Broken bones? His Chi-chan had never broken a bone before. And she had multiple?

His boss continued in a bit of a ramble, "Said an arm and a leg. And some ribs."

Before he could stop it, Chizome felt his jaw drop. A few other of his coworkers who had stopped to listen paused, their jaws also dropping.

One of the coworkers spoke up, "Boss, you gotta let him leave! Chiyuki-chan sounds real hurt."

"Well of course I'm letting him leave!" the boss huffed, "The train to Musutafu is a long one, so hurry up, Akaguro!"

.

The train to UA was in fact, a long one. It felt longer because Chizome was a bit scared of what was waiting on the other end. His phone buzzed and he grabbed it, hoping for a text from Chiyuki. Instead it was from his gym buddy, Oguro, and it appeared to be a picture of the new boxing ring the gym had installed. Chizome ignored it, and held his face in his hands.

Stain thought back to a few days prior.

 _"Akaguro Chizome." the man spoke, a deep lull in his gravelly voice, "Or, as I would prefer, the Hero Killer, Stain."_

 _Immediately on edge, Stain growled deep in Chizome's throat, "What do you want?"_

 _"Your cooperation."_

 _"And if I don't?" Stain replied evenly._

 _The man didn't chuckle, merely he answered, "Akaguro Chiyuki. Fifteen years old. A first year at UA high school in the hero program. How would it look for her if word got out that her brother was the Hero Killer Stain? Or," the shadow smiled cruelly now, "Wouldn't the headline 'First Year at UA Killed By Villain' sound tragic?"_

 _"What do you want my..." Stain hissed, "Cooperation, for?"_

 _"I simply have a list of heroes that I want neutralized and brought to me." the man said, an envelope appearing in his hand. He held it up._

 _"I neutralize permanently." Stain retorted, a bitter growl in his throat._

 _"I'm sure with your skill, maiming but keeping alive is well within your power." the man said, "I don't care how you do it. As long as they are still alive when I get them."_

 _Stain scowled, but as he looked at the man covered in shadows, Chizome answered, "Fine. Hand over the list."_

 _"Happy hunting, Hero Killer. I'll be in touch."_

Leaning against the window, Chizome let out a deep breath and brought his hands down to his lap. Had this been that man's doing? Had That Man wanted to show Chizome, Stain, just how far he could go? Chizome, or rather Stain, had already done one name that the man had wanted. He had delivered the unconscious hero to a nondescript factory on the very outskirts of the city, and left without a care for the mans fate.

Things were some kind of fucked, weren't they?

The train eventually pulled into the station he had to get off at, and he sprinted through the platform. Chizome made it to UA at record speed, and was rather grumpy with the security as he let them register him in. He hurried to infirmary two, as he was told there were multiple ones, and opened the door far more forcefully than he really had to.

Inside the room, a small elderly woman attended to Chiyuki while on the futon beside hers was a scruffy looking man. A school uniform and bandages floated on a chair nearby and a blonde boy with a tail was sitting on the third cot and all the privacy curtains were drawn open so everyone could see each other.

"I'm going to have to set this, and it's going to hurt." the elderly woman warned Chiyuki, who was biting down on something. Chiyuki grunted in response and Chizome wasn't able to say anything as the woman pushed on Chiyuki's arm and Chiyuki's body lurched, her yell muffled by the thing she was biting on. Nodding to herself, the elderly woman wrote something on a clipboard and Chiyuki noticed Chizome.

"Nii-san!" Chiyuki spat the stick out of her mouth.

Chizome stalked up to the bed to get a look and he winced. Chiyuki was black and blue, with a bulging wound on her arm. Her body suit had been cut off in some areas, but it was still bloodstained in other spots. Her armor had been discarded to the side, and Chizome did a once over. He noted a sword was missing, and he noted the blood that was crusted on a few knives.

Placing a hand gingerly on Chiyuki's head, he felt a bandage around her head, "You had a rough field trip, then."

"Rough?" the elderly woman quipped, "Three broken ribs. Two bruised. A compound fracture of her ulna, a break on her radius, and a clean break on her tibia. And a concussion. Not to mention her low blood levels. Why," the elderly woman dryly remarked, "That sounds like more than a rough field trip."

"I'm very sorry-" Chiyuki said sheepishly.

The woman tsked and cut her off, "No matter how much sugar you put in that act, I can't heal all of this in one sitting. I can heal your gashes and ribs, but you'll have to pick if you want your arm or leg back first."

"Leg." Chiyuki answered immediately.

"Arm it is." the woman replied and Chiyuki made a sour noise as the woman's lips extended and pressed onto Chiyuki's cheek. With a pout on Chiyuki's face, Chizome didn't miss the fascinated look in her eyes as a green glow enveloped her wounds. Her gashes slowly pulled together in a much less gruesome way than Chiyuki stitched with her own quirk. Chiyuki's eyes started to look heavy at a point and then the woman pulled back. Chiyuki melted into the cot, looking rather weak.

"I'm afraid she'll have to stay awhile longer, Akaguro-san." the woman turned to Chizome, "Ah, I am Shuzenji Chiyo, the head nurse here at UA. I prefer to go by Recovery Girl, though."

"Ah, thank you for healing my little sister then, Recovery Girl." Chizome bowed his head to her. He shot a look to Chiyuki, "My ridiculous little sister. Who is going to tell me what happened."

Chiyuki's lips quirked, and that's how Chizome knew she was spouting bullshit as she said, "Ma, but I'm exhausted and need my rest."

"Chiyuki-san was very brave, Akaguro-san!" a female voice cut in. Chizome blinked at the floating female uniform, "She was very cool too. She took on so many villains-"

"Villains?" Chizome stopped her, "I thought this was supposed to be a field trip for disaster rescue?"

"Things went a little... weird." Chiyuki said listlessly, the floating uniform adding, "And terrible!"

"It's probably a long explanation." the boy with the tail agreed, Recovery Girl eyeing his bandages before attending to the black haired man.

Chizome eyed him, "Okay, first, is this your teacher? And second we have plenty of time, so start talking."

.

When they tried to politely get Chizome to leave, he blatantly refused. He had listened to Chiyuki and the invisible girl-Toru, Chiyuki's friend, Chizome had learned-retell what they recall having happened. Chiyuki was straight to the point, giving facts and details while Toru would get lost in telling the story. Toru of course spoke the truth, but her way of telling things was far more entertaining and story-like, whereas Chiyuki was more so giving a report.

Leaning back in his chair, Chizome sighed. Chiyuki made a face and Chizome shook his head, "No, I'm not sighing at you, Chi-chan. I'm more so disappointed that something like this happened at such a prestigious high school. How can I trust them to train you to be a hero, if this happened?"

"Not that you're wrong," a gravelly voice spoke up from the other bed. The teacher was sitting up now, "But this situation was unforeseen and unprecedented."

Chiyuki blinked at her sensei, and narrowed her eyes, "The other day... there was a security breach, wasn't there? During lunch, we evacuated."

"Just the press looking for All Might." her sensei dismissed. Chizome frowned, and Chiyuki had a face that clearly stated she thought that was bullshit.

And she said so, "Just the press... being used for a way to sneak in."

"Think what you would like, Akaguro. Regardless," the sensei looked towards Chizome, "Akaguro-san, please excuse my state. I am Akaguro's homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta."

"And what hero are you, then?" Chizome retorted. It was a rather rude response, but Aizawa humored him.

"Eraserhead." Aizawa replied evenly.

Chizome seemed to think for a moment. Then shrugged, "Never heard of you. But that's a good thing."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, and Chiyuki snorted, teasing her older brother, "Your standards are weird."

"But high." Chizome replied. He stood, "I expect they'll be kicking me out less politely soon. I'll be back in the morning as soon as they let me in. What do you need from home?"

"I'm sorry to say that one of your swords broke." Chiyuki lowered her head.

Chizome frowned, "Which one?"

"The black hilt with the red wrapping. A plain katana blade." Chiyuki answered and Chizome immediately knew which one.

"Ah, that one wasn't anything special. We'll pay a tribute to it later when you've healed. I suppose you're saying to bring you a new sword to replace that one?" Chizome snorted at the hopeful look Chiyuki gave him. He ruffled her hair lovingly.

"I think it's time I let you use some of the nicer swords from our collection. How about my old one from when I was in school?"

Chiyuki's eyes widened, "You mean the red one with the engraving? Didn't Tou-san give you that?"

"And I'll pass it to you, then." Chizome smiled, "Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

As Chizome walked to the door, Chiyuki called out softly, "Goodnight Nii-san. Love you."

Chizome lifted a hand to wave over his shoulder, "And I you, Chi-chan."

When the door closed, the silence was almost palpable. Then Toru squealed.

"Oh my gosh, your brother looked so intimidating, but then he was actually so nice-!"

* * *

 **AN:**

 **This chapter was super difficult. I wanted to diverge a lot here, but kept it relatively simple for now. Chiyuki is at a skill level above her peers, but isn't a match for a Nomu at all yet. Shigaraki would be a rough fight for her, but if she weren't injured she would be able to fight him relatively evenly. Due to all of this, and Chiyuki's avoidance issue, nothing Big changed. Minor changes, and certainly everyones going to have Opinions on Chiyuki after this.**

 **To clarify what happened outside of Unreliable Narrator Chiyuki Vision, Chiyuki, Toru and Ojiro came out from the fire zone very early due to how easily Chiyuki, as well as Ojiro, were able to get through the villains. Aizawa had hardly had to fight the Nomu much yet, and as a result he wasn't Absolutely destroyed and smooshed into the ground. So Aizawa is considerably less injured than he was in canon. Ojiro and Toru were also hurt badly, with Recovery Girl having to help them as well. Their cases were less severe so she did it quick on site, but Chiyuki got obliterated.**

 **Also, thank you to everyone for the well wishes for my operation last month! It went well, and I'm feeling significantly better. I'm back at college for the new semester, so I will try for a September update but my writing will be slowing down and I currently only have a buffer of two and a half chapters. If not September, October will definitely have an update. The next few chapters are a little difficult to write so far, so I'd like to write a few more chapters but I don't think I'll have time.**

 **Thanks so much to the following for reviewing (:**

 **rivainimermaid  
JustUsingARandomName  
Chaos Evans  
Stickaroo  
OlivineWK  
xenocanaan  
GingerFury  
Galarvis  
588963-B**


	12. The Brother Visits

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 12_

 _The Brother Visits_

* * *

Chiyuki scowled at the wheelchair that Recovery Girl had pulled up for her just before noon the day after the incident at USJ. Recovery Girl wouldn't heal her leg until later in the day due to concerns for Chiyuki's energy, and the fact that she needed to meet with the principal. Chizome had come and gone that morning, dropping off a paper bag that contained a delicious breakfast sandwich. He promised to be back later but he had to go to back to Hosu for work. Toru had left the night before and Ojiro this morning while Chiyuki had been unconscious.

"Stupid wheelchair." Chiyuki grumbled, helping Recovery Girl move her into the chair. Sitting up and looking rather good today, Aizawa watched his grumpy student wheel her chair around in practice as Recovery Girl left to check on the other infirmary.

When she stopped and looked at her healed arm, which had once had the bone sticking out, her expression betrayed her genuine amazement. And Aizawa commented, "Chiyo's quirk is amazing, don't you think, Akaguro-chan?"

"Maa, sensei, you can call me Chiyuki. It was weird last night with me and my brother here." Chiyuki replied, wheeling around to face him. She stared at his face, and squinted her eyes. Aizawa had made it out of the USJ incident in better shape than Chiyuki remembered. He had strained his body to its limits, and the Nomu had done a lot of physical damage to Aizawa's body, but something about Aizawa seemed off to Chiyuki. Straining to remember, Chiyuki was a bit delayed in realizing she hadn't answered Aizawa's question, "Uh, sorry sensei, lost my train of thought. What did you ask?"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow but tried to keep his expression neutral, "I'm sure you wish your Bloodthirst was like Chiyo's quirk, Chiyuki-san."

Chiyuki was effectively distracted from Aizawa's face, and she lit up because she loved to talk about training and boy did she have ideas, "I'm definitely envious that she could heal bone! I want to study anatomy more, both because that could be useful for healing, but also targets. If I keep training my quirk, which currently I can heal bruises, cuts, poisons, and relatively large gashes, then maybe I can even heal bone!"

"Targets, hm? You said your brother taught you?"

Chiyuki thought for a moment, "He did, although I don't believe we've discussed this topic before."

"And your brother works in a garage? Where does he get his training from?" Aizawa continued to question. Chiyuki felt a little small under his scrutinizing gaze.

"It's a family thing, originally. Our father taught my brother, and my brother went to school to be a hero for a bit. After our parents passed away and I expressed interest, Nii-san started showing me self-defense which evolved into knife-work and swordsmanship." Chiyuki smiled from the fond memories she had with her brother, "We were also very worried about my quirk, so we've experimented with it."

Aizawa nodded, "How old were you?"

Chiyuki shrugged, "Seven or eight I think? Nii-san had me work my way up from basic self defense starting then."

"Young." Aizawa hummed thoughtfully, "I'll have to speak to your brother then. You're level-headed, calm, intelligent, and distantly friendly, so don't misunderstand me Chiyuki-san, but the way you fight is aggressive and unheroic."

A forced smile made its way onto Chiyuki's face and both of them clearly knew her expression was hiding what she was thinking. Her lips quivered and her eyes, wide and unblinking. And Chiyuki was mad. She wasn't mad that he had called her out on her methods. Because she knew that she had made mistakes during USJ; her sword meeting bone, her strikes using too much power, her mind letting her Bloodthirst get the better of her in some cases, and in the end, Chiyuki was sure that she had left a path of injury.

But Aizawa didn't know this yet, Chiyuki thought. She had been in the infirmary with him all night and not once had anyone come in to speak to him. So whatever Aizawa was calling out... it came from before USJ. Chiyuki's mind raced. What was Aizawa thinking? What was he saying-And then Chiyuki had a thought.

Aizawa, Chiyuki decided, had looked into the entire class, and saw her as aggressive. He had marked her as the aggressive one in a classroom that contained Bakugo. _Bakugo_. How could Aizawa have made the decision that _Chiyuki_ was the concern?

"Sensei..." Chiyuki began, voice wavering in a multitude of emotions while she gripped the wheels on the wheel chair with an iron grip, "I cannot accept your critique of me, that critique, when our homeroom has _Bakugo Katsuki_ cursing, yelling, and bullying. I will not allow you to put me on a level worse than _someone like him_."

Aizawa frowned, "Chiyuki-san, this is not an attack on your-"

Chiyuki rolled back so she could turn away from him. She scowled, "Aizawa-sensei, do you think I am more aggressive than Bakugo?"

"It depends." Aizawa replied evenly, dark eyes boring into the side of Chiyuki's head, "In terms of personality, I agree Bakugo needs to learn control. However Bakugo isn't likely to kill someone with a sword."

"His quirk-" Chiyuki began, a growl in her throat.

"Bloodthirst puts you into a frenzy, you told me. That your quirk numbs your sense of pain. However it seems like Bloodthirst does more than that, because the Chiyuki-san whose instinctive response to an unexpected fight was to cleave down anyone in her way seems like a far different person to the diligent, quiet Chiyuki-san who takes impeccable neat notes and decorates them with illustrations, color coded pens, and stickers." Aizawa stated harshly, "You are not an aggressive person by nature but you have a temper with triggers that results in concerning blood lust that I suspect stems from a lack of control over your Bloodthirst."

Chiyuki turned her head quickly. She was briefly distracted-because how did he know she liked to decorate her notes and rewrite them to be beautiful and organized-and also how did someone tell him about her actions during USJ while she had been here with him the entire time-and wow wasn't Aizawa kind of an an ass-but she completely denied Aizawa's theory.

"I have control over my quirk." Chiyuki snapped, agitated and feeling hot, "You haven't seen me without control, because I promise you," and her voice wavered, because she remembered the instinctual feeling of biting into fle _sh, ripping it to get to the blood that her body knew belonged to her_ -

Chiyuki frowned deeply, "...it is not something that you want to see."

"Quirks have effects that can vary." Aizawa stated, throwing Chiyuki what appeared to be a sympathetic gaze, "Your quirk is clearly deeply ingrained in you as a person. It could potentially be best if you do not continue with swords. They are dangerous and require control."

Giving a dirty look to her teacher, Chiyuki growled, "I am _good_ with blades. They also compliment my quirk."

"How so?" Aizawa leaned forward, "Tell me, why is it that your last resort was flailing your arm and aiming to infect a dangerous villain? You said your quirk can heal others...help them... but you can directly harm through infection, too, can't you?"

And Chiyuki felt her heart stop. In just one heated, horrible conversation, Aizawa had yanked out Chiyuki's secret about her quirk. The part that she had always left empty. The area she misguided and misdirected from. She never explicitly said she could hurt people, in fact, her official record only had the vaguest terms for her quirk as 'Blood manipulation of oneself and others'. Chiyuki and Chizome had hid the fact that Chiyuki could kill someone easily, with just a touch even.

Chiyuki could remember her elementary teachers talking about her. How she would grow up to be a villain with such an aggressive, evil sounding quirk. She could remember the whispers and jeers of her classmates. How children isolated her in fear. How without her friends at her side, it was so hard to ignore the talk about her. It was hard to suppress the anger, and embarrassment, and sadness, and all the emotions that came at the hands of bullying.

She really didn't want to think about these things right now. Especially with Aizawa, who before had seemed like an aloof but fine teacher, but now felt cold and closed off to her. But Chiyuki didn't have a choice. She couldn't run away from the situation, stuck in a wheelchair and forced to be face to face with Aizawa. Chiyuki wanted to run away, she wanted to avoid this confrontation. She wanted to avoid this just as much as she wanted to avoid Stain. But she couldn't.

Whatever the cause, Chiyuki finally thought, she didn't deserve yet another teacher who would treat her as an outsider. As the strange precocious child with the potential to become evil. It didn't matter if it stemmed from the bullying, or her quirk, or her training, or if Chiyuki had just adjusted and changed to be less caring of others, Chiyuki didn't think it made her less of a person. Chiyuki still wanted to help people, even if she also wanted to be selfish for a change.

She still wanted to be a hero.

"They said I would be a villain." Chiyuki said softly, eyes brimming with her pink tears, "They said 'Such an aggressive name for a quirk'. 'How strange it is, she needs to drink blood supplements'. So I hid my villainous quirk. Only Nii-san knows the extent that I can hurt others. Bloodthirst has given me complete awareness and control over my body. The medical details and possible explanations are complicated and some far fetched, but quirks rewrite the laws of how people work all the time. Should I ingest a persons blood, or infect them with my own, their body becomes like an extension of my own body. I gain complete control."

Aizawa sighed. He reached forward, and plopped his hand down on Chiyuki's head. When Chiyuki flinched Aizawa pulled back as if she would bite him.

"Sorry about this, Chiyuki-kun," and Chiyuki took note of Aizawa's new honorific for her. Aizawa spoke, "I didn't intend for us to have such a heated discussion. But I am your homeroom teacher and I am responsible for you, so please give me some trust and be honest with me. In return, I will share the same curtesy with you."

"After this discussion if I trusted you, I think I'd need my head checked again." Chiyuki retorted, and she scowled as she rubbed her dried tears away, "I don't like your tricks. You ask me to trust you, but how can I trust a teacher who has managed to find several of my personal issues and then use them to try and break me."

"You know perfectly well that I wasn't trying to break you, and you came to a few conclusions without letting me finish." Aizawa replied, a light frown on his face, "Talking about problems is a healthy outlet. You're a lot calmer now and I think we can clear up the discussion."

And Chiyuki snorted, "Yeah, I'm calm because I cried and just went through a mental barrage. I've exerted all my energy. Congrats for pulling information out of your student who just went through a traumatic experience that left her with several broken bones by attacking everything she holds close to her person."

Chiyuki rolled towards the door because she was so done with this conversation, "I don't think I can trust you, sensei. You're acting like you know me, but you've only taught me for less than two weeks. You're making heavy, harsh judgments towards me without knowing anything about me."

"Then tell me what's on your mind." Aizawa countered, "Tell me about yourself, who you are. Tell me why you think your fighting style isn't aggressive. Tell me why you look at Bakugo with such angry faces."

"Who wouldn't look at Bakugo angrily?" Chiyuki rose to the bait, "I can't stand bullies. I don't know why he's here, because with his attitude, I can't believe that he actually cares about saving anyone. A hero who only wants to win for himself is a hero I won't accept."

Aizawa tilted his head, "And why are you here, then?"

"I want to help people." Chiyuki replied, and despite the smile on her lips and the genuine feelings behind her sentiment, she knew that wasn't completely true. She was here to be a hero who could help people, but really, she was _here_ because this was where everything would revolve around. She could have gone anywhere to be a hero, but she came here, and deep in her heart and in the back of her mind, it was because of Chizome.

"How can you help people with a sword, and knowing several ways to kill someone?" Aizawa questioned, "A hero isn't a killer."

"My quirk isn't suited for disaster rescue and I would never want to be a healer." Chiyuki replied evenly, "Fighting villains seems to be where my future talents will lie."

"Are you aware there are hero specialties?" Aizawa asked and the sudden change had Chiyuki wary, but intrigued.

Chiyuki shrugged, "Vaguely?"

"There are heroes suited for different tasks. Rescue types who specialize in various types of rescue. Disaster rescue. Water rescue. Petty crime rescues. There are support types. And there are battle types. Hunters who go after villains. Enforcers who patrol to be sure the law is followed. Most pro heroes, especially those with their own agencies, are able to perform as multiple types. The best pro heroes are able to adapt to what is needed of them."

"But everyone has their more comfortable position, or their roots." Chiyuki considered, critical red eyes on Aizawa, "You are a battle type, right?"

"What makes you say that?" Aizawa's expression was a forced neutral one.

Chiyuki hummed, eyeing his face and nearly forgetting she was supposed to be incredibly angry at him, "Your quirk is for neutralizing villains, clearly. You've augmented yourself with that scarf and are capable of using it like an extension of your body, and it is the perfect weapon to neutralize a target with."

"How do you intend to neutralize with swords then? You're correct, I am a battle type who specializes in capture." Aizawa asked blandly.

Chiyuki was a little angry at herself, at how Aizawa had managed to calm her down, "You said there are different types of heroes, and listed a hunter as one of them. I don't know what type of hero I will be, I still have three years to learn about being a hero and learn about about myself and my own limits. But whether I become one of those hunters, or find myself fitting another role in the future, my swords do not make me an aggressive person. They are not the problem."

"I can... understand somewhat," Chiyuki leaned back in her wheelchair, "That sometimes I come off as exactly as what is expected of me; that is, slums trash. I am quick tempered if pushed, I agree with that, but I am capable of holding myself back when it counts. Please do not put me on a level with Bakugo again, sensei. It is an insult to my person."

"I apologize Chiyuki-kun," Aizawa replied, standing up, "I did not intend to compare your person to Bakugo. This conversation was meant to have you think more on your choice to use weapons and to raise my concerns about your feelings on Bakugo. In Foundational Hero Studies you will eventually go through the types of heroes and I think that is a lesson you could use because as of now you are entirely a combat type."

"So I failed the assessment at USJ, and you think that I can't save someone solely because when faced with dozens of people who wanted me dead, I reacted in self defense?" Chiyuki asked.

Aizawa plopped a few papers into Chiyuki's lap, "I know you can save others, you showed amazing potential in the entrance exam. But now we need to address your weaknesses as well as your strengths. You've shown that you distrust teachers, you keep an aloof attitude among classmates, and you have an aggressive fighting style. Whether we retrain, refocus, or find a way to utilize, we will find a way to proceed past all of these."

Then Aizawa grinned, "Regardless, you kept up well with this conversation despite how heated it became and you clearly earned your spot at number one in the entrance exam with hard work. I look forward to teaching you, Chiyuki-kun. But do remember that I am your teacher, and whatever past experiences you had, I do care to see that you grow into a great hero."

Chiyuki frowned lightly, "Alright, then, sensei. Two more questions, how did you find out about my notes, and how I fought during USJ?"

Aizawa put a hand to her head, "I have eyes, and I went to homeroom this morning while you were still sleeping. You were the only student injured badly enough to excuse you from classes today. Those papers I gave you are copied notes from Yaoyorozu-san. Hakagure-san wanted me to pass on a message that she will visit during lunch."

"Okay," Chiyuki nodded slowly, "Sensei, I guess for now, I can put some trust in you."

"Oh?" Aizawa tilted his head.

Chiyuki snorted, "You gave me enough whiplash to remind me of my brother. Next time you want to talk about something, say things up front and leave tricks behind."

.

Chiyuki was exhausted after speaking with the principal and a police officer who had come to get her statement. The principal was nice and offered her tea, and then he roasted her in a similar way to Aizawa before the officer arrived, but Chiyuki honestly didn't want to deal with the police. After talking with the hyper intelligent principal, Chiyuki wondered if Aizawa had dragged her through a hellish conversation to prepare her for when Principal Nezu essentially hit her with a truck.

In the end, Nezu had decided that Chiyuki's actions were in defense of her own life and the lives of her two classmates, so Chiyuki wasn't punished for the harsh handling of the villains. Nezu did however go over an extensive list of the injuries she had caused, including the ghastly revelation that one of her enemies had lost an arm from one of Chiyuki's attacks.

"Accidents happen, as I know you weren't intending to chop a mans arm off." Nezu had said, tiny eyes merciless, "But should you continue to be this ruthless, there will be consequences. Pro Heroes have to make dangerous calls, and I regret you had to make such a call before your career has truly begun, but extensive damages to a person is not just, nor something a hero should strive towards."

Chiyuki just gave Nezu a weak smile, "I know, sir. Aizawa-sensei and I discussed my aggressive fighting style, and we will find a way to use or refocus it."

"Excellent. I look forward to seeing what kind of hero you end up becoming. You have a great potential, and I hope you can focus it wonderfully." Nezu told her, much more warm than he had been the entire previous conversation.

After retelling what happened to the officer, Chiyuki wheeled herself out. She wanted to go to classes but Recovery Girl would refuse to heal her leg if she did that. Rolling herself back to the infirmary, Chiyuki slid open the door with some effort, and found Toru sitting on her cot eating a bento with a nervous Gensuto beside her. Izuku and Ochako sat on the other empty cot smiling, while Ojiro had pulled over a chair. Surprisingly, Tenya was present, but he seemed to be more comfortable beside Ochako and Izuku, than the others.

Chiyuki blinked in surprise at the squad of people, and Toru called, "Chiyuki-san, we've been waiting for you!"

Gensuto smiled when he saw her, and he quietly held up a bento, "I-I asked my sister to pack one for you."

Chiyuki grinned and wheeled herself over, "Gen-kun, did you just admit that your sister still packs your bento for you?"

"Yuki-chan," Gensuto groaned, "Must you tease?"

Chiyuki grinned, "Hey, who wants to hear the story on how me and Gen-kun became friends?"

.

Later in the afternoon, Chiyuki tested out her newly healed leg. It felt strong and normal, and Chiyuki investigated the area with her quirk. Nothing was out of the ordinary, the leg wasn't weaker than her other, and Chiyuki was impressed.

"Wow, Shuzenji-sensei," Chiyuki admired as she turned to face the older woman, "This is amazing!"

"It's my job to heal, and I've been doing it for many years." Recovery Girl replied evenly, "You should be back to your normal self. There's no need to avoid your usual exercises, but I'd advise you to not take my healing for granted. You were lucky your injuries were clean and I could use my quirk to heal them. If you had a messier break, or more serious injuries, there could have been lasting consequences."

"Of course. I'll be more careful in the future." Chiyuki bowed her head and when Recovery Girl seemed to be done scrutinizing her, Chiyuki was set free. Back in her school uniform, Chiyuki hurried back to the classroom to try and sneak into the end of class. Upon sliding open the door, Aizawa gave her a dull look. But he allowed her to slide into her seat and immediately, Toru passed her several sheets of paper.

"Here, I took notes for you!" Toru whispered, and Chiyuki gave her a thankful smile. She had read over the notes Aizawa had copied from Momo's and while Chiyuki understood them, Momo had a unique intellectual way of organizing her own notes that Chiyuki didn't quite like. Chiyuki was sure Momo was very smart, especially with the way her quirk demanded specific knowledge of how things worked, but Chiyuki just couldn't quite find herself liking Momo just yet.

Momo had taken bullet pointed mentions down about the upcoming sports festival, which had piqued Chiyuki's interest as she felt it was rather soon for that, but there was a lot of speculation in Momo's notes that Chiyuki really didn't need. Chiyuki skimmed through the papers Toru had passed her with half an ear on Aizawa, and she decided Toru was an excellent note taker. Toru had clear precise notes with what Chiyuki was sure close to word for word what Aizawa had said. Toru didn't muddy up the page with speculations and extra thoughts and knowledge like Momo did.

"Now that Chiyuki-kun has returned to class," Aizawa mentioned, and Chiyuki looked up to find his eyes on her, "I would like to remind you all to consider the upcoming sports festival we spoke about this morning. I am going to reiterate that it is important, and it would be beneficial to be noticed by Pro Heroes during it for internships. After yesterdays events at the USJ, some of you have come to realize and reconsider your strategies and goals. The sports festival is a place where I can guarantee you will all be safe and will have no need to worry about villains intruding."

With a few more words towards that, Aizawa then ended the day and Toru bounced up to lean over to Chiyuki, "I tried my best to copy the notes as clean as I could! Today was rather slow, I think the sensei were trying to give us a break after yesterday."

"That's good for me then," Chiyuki remarked, and before she could say more there was a commotion in the doorway. Chiyuki craned her neck to look and between her own classmates she could see a crowd of other students outside. They all looked to be first years, but she didn't recognize any of them. Standing up to get a better look with her height, Chiyuki vaguely recalled this was the start of the sports festival arc.

But all intelligent thought left Chiyuki's mind when she saw familiar orange hair pass through the crowd to chop the back of a boys neck and prevent him from further antagonizing the students.

Itsuka was taller now, with a more refined face, but she was still shorter than Chiyuki. She looked strikingly beautiful with soft teal eyes, and round features. She had outgrown her boyish grins and lack of attention to her appearance. But that didn't stop Chiyuki from noticing the brace around her left elbow; the arm that had been injured all those years ago. Chiyuki felt a shiver run through her body, and she ducked her head before Itsuka had looked in her direction. Chiyuki slid off her chair and crouched beside her desk, looking down at her inside shoes.

If Chiyuki stayed low, she could avoid Itsuka. The girl wouldn't see her and it would be fine.

"Eto, Chiyuki-san...?" Toru asked, and Chiyuki shot her a pleading look.

Toru crouched down next to Chiyuki despite being just a floating uniform, "Chiyuki-san, is everything okay?"

Chiyuki whispered, "Sorry, Toru-san. Can I tell you when that crowd goes away?"

And eventually the crowd dispersed, their classmates filed out, and Aizawa gave the two crouching girls a raised eyebrow, but he too eventually left. When the door shut and it was just the two of them, Chiyuki sighed and stood. She started to pack her bag while Toru did the same.

"One of the girls in Class 1-B is a childhood friend of mine." Chiyuki admitted softly, "When I last saw her... she was afraid of me."

Toru hummed delicately, "Why was she afraid?"

Chiyuki clenched her fist, "My quirk."

"I think I get it," Toru said, "When we were fighting in USJ, you were kind of scary Chiyuki-san. You kind of... didn't hesitate to hurt the villains."

"Survive. That was what I was probably thinking. My quirk heightens an instinct in me that I don't always agree with." Chiyuki replied vaguely, then she sighed, "Aizawa-sensei wasn't completely wrong when he said I can't fully control Bloodthirst. I can stop myself usually, but there was an instance once where I was pushed beyond my own control. I was scared, and angry, and I hurt someone."

"Were you protecting someone?" Toru asked, a knowing tone in her voice.

Chiyuki smiled a sad smile, "I suppose I was."

"Then you were a hero, you are a hero, even if your quirk is a little unconventional." Toru decided, and she put a hand on Chiyuki's shoulder.

Swallowing, Chiyuki sniffled, "Thanks, Toru-san, I really needed to hear that."

Toru smiled, "I'd prefer Toru-chan, if you would."

.

Chizome picked up Chiyuki from UA that afternoon, and the two had taken the train back with Gensuto nervously joining. It was an awkward reunion, Chizome roughhousing Gensuto a little bit and remarking on how he was shaping up pretty okay. The trio had been waiting for the train while Gensuto studied the siblings, and he had asked about where Chiyuki had been yesterday especially after the news had spread about her class trip to the USJ. Chiyuki had glossed over it, and forced Gensuto into a discussion on the schools lockdown. When the train came the three found spots and sat down, then Gensuto scribbled in his notebook and passed it to Chiyuki.

Akaguro Chizome: Level 129, 890 HP, 112 MP, 480 Physical.

"Ohh, wow," Chiyuki whispered to Gensuto, ignoring Chizome's raised eyebrow in their direction, "Nii-san is super strong."

"You've gained a few points the past week, actually." Gensuto remarked, eyeing her.

Chiyuki shrugged, "I'm always trying to better myself."

Before the two could continue to geek out over stats, a decidedly bored and mischievous Chizome leaned forward to conspiratorially whisper, "Hey, Gensuto-kun, did Chi-chan tell you that one of her girl friends thought you were cute?"

Chiyuki couldn't stop herself from laughing hysterically along with her brother when Gensuto turned beet red and couldn't speak for a solid minute.

.

Stain read the newspaper article on the USJ incident, a frown pulling at his lips. It was stated that the responsible party was calling itself the League of Villains, and while the villains had easily given that news up, Stain glared at the two men standing across from him.

"You want me to join your... league." Stain said, a taste he didn't like in his mouth. These men were scum.

"You're already part of the league, Hero Killer." a voice called, and Stain eyed the television set inside the dingy little bar he had been invited into. Initially he had come in with the intention of killing both of them for what had happened to Chiyuki during their stunt, but now his interest was piqued.

In the television set was a silhouetted form wearing a well kept suit. The man clearly had an imposing stature, and the shadows warped around his features preventing any recognizable features to be presented. Rather, those shadows were what Stain recognized. It was That Man.

"The league is yours?" Stain asked, then growled, "I neutralized one of those on your list. Was that incident to cow me into submission?"

That Man didn't move at all on the screen, save for him moving one hand off screen, "No, this was a separate movement. Initially it was intended to keep you separate, but your power is growing and it would benefit to have you show yourself."

"I agreed to neutralize and bring heroes to you. I won't associate myself with," Stain curled his lips at the purple wispy man and the itchy young man covered in hands, "What is your goals, then, League of Villains?"

The itchy hand man stepped forward, explained, and Stain scoffed. His dislike for this itchy man had risen. He looked at the television, "As I suspected. Your little ringleader here, were it not for our deal, I'd kill him where he stands. He is childish, petty, and unsuited."

That Man made a noise that could have been mistaken for a chuckle, "And that incident has done nothing to cow you into complete obedience? From what I saw, your precious little sister was quite injured." The itchy man tilted his head.

"Little sister?" he regarded the hero killer, then hissed in realization, "The sword girl. The one my Nomu swat like a fly."

"The one who would have disemboweled you should the Nomu have not broken her bones." the monitor spoke loosely, "Rise to the eyes of the people, infamous Hero Killer. Let them know your ideals, your name, and in turn, your interesting little sister will be free from my hand until our next discussion."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So I thought there was a day off after the USJ, misinterpreted some information and thought I was wrong, wrote the chapter, realized I was initially right, and I refused to rewrite to give the day off. If anyone asks, the school decided to stay open because Chiyuki had to stay overnight. It's all Chiyuki's fault, clearly.**

 **I've been mentally calling the Aizawa scene "Reminding Everyone Chiyuki Is Sometimes An Unreliable Narrator Scene". That was a Rough scene to write, but I wanted to develop Chiyuki and Aizawa's opinions outwardly.**

 **I couldn't decide what to call Recovery Girl, in terms of name. So she's Recovery Girl for now, I guess. Also, I think the timeline of canon is wildly paced and I'm going to take some liberties. Also as a note, Chizome in this fic has focused more on himself as a fighter for a longer period of time(For example, his 'friendship' with Oguro); if I gave Canon Stain Gensuto stats they'd be lower, maybe closer to Midnight's score from Chapter 9.**

 **I'm quite pleased I managed an October update. This semester is Rough with a capital R. I'm currently writing chapters 14 and 15 simultaneously, with 15 being a special interlude. If I don't get a November update in, late December is a definite.**

 **Also, I'd really like to make an extra point to thank everyone for the great reviews. I love reading every single one of them, and they make me smile when I'm having a rough time.**

 **Thanks to the following who reviewed (:**

 **Guest  
PurpleRawan  
areyouseriousstopwastingmytime  
TheKursed  
588963-B  
Heean  
Dreiundzwanzig  
** **JustUsingARandomName  
guisniperman  
xenocanaan  
CatGirlGaming**


	13. The Sister Avoids Her

**Thicker than Blood**

 _Chapter 13_

 _The Sister Avoids Her_

* * *

Chiyuki figured a day would come when she would have to confront Itsuka. But today, Chiyuki decided as she launched herself into a corridor, would not be that day. Hurrying down the hallway, Chiyuki shuffled into a random classroom and blinked at the upperclassmen staring at her, a few sitting at their desks eating lunch. Waving nervously, Chiyuki waited a few awkward seconds before she looked out, and upon seeing no orange hair, Chiyuki quickly removed herself from the confused staring of the upperclassmen.

Skirting back the way she came, Chiyuki managed to find her way to the support classroom Gensuto had requested she come to for lunch. Sliding the door open slowly, Chiyuki winced as there was a loud clang. Skirting inside Gensuto was sitting at a work table, a bento placed dangerously next to a box of nuts and bolts.

"Building something cool?" Chiyuki asked, taking a seat across from her friend. Another loud noise came from the end of the room where a girl was working away wildly, oblivious to there being two other people in the room.

Gensuto nodded, pushing his safety goggles up and putting his usual glasses back on, "The other day when you were working on your costume plans on the train, I saw something that I thought I could help with."

Chiyuki blinked, and her mouth formed an O shape as Gensuto lifted his arm, slotted a rather ugly brace onto it, and a moment later, a blade slid out from the base of his wrist. Gasping, Chiyuki grabbed his arm and tugged him forward to examine the new gadget, "This is awesome!"

Gensuto blushed, and shook his head, "It's a prototype and I'm working on it, so it's nowhere near perfect yet. I want to make it slimmer and less conspicuous."

"Still," Chiyuki insisted, "It's impressive you managed to recreate that from just spotting my sketches. Do you think these will be ready soon?"

"I might have one ready for you by the sports festival next week." Gensuto replied, and Chiyuki made a face. Gensuto pinched his nose as soon as he realized what he had said.

"I think the sports festival is poorly timed and should be at the end of the year-" Chiyuki began, and Gensuto hushed her, "Yes Yuki-chan, I've heard this a thousand times already."

"How sassy." Chiyuki snorted, "But seriously. After that incident at the USJ, you'd think they would have pushed back the sports festival. Instead, that was the first thing I heard when I was out of the infirmary."

"It's an important event." Gensuto replied quietly, eyeing the noises from the other side of the room, he whispered, "Don't let Hatsume-san hear you complain. She is _living_ for the chance to show off her inventions."

"You sound stressed about that." Chiyuki, amused, remarked.

Gensuto groaned, and dropped his head, "I don't know where she gets the energy-"

As if summoned, Hatsume Mei appeared next to them energetically, "Megane-kun!"

"Yes!" Gensuto half shrieked, jumping up stiffly.

Mei grinned, "Can I borrow your power drill? Mine is overheating."

Defeated, Gensuto handed his toolbox over and Mei disappeared back into her corner of the room. Chiyuki pat Gensuto's shoulder as he sighed, "That girl..."

.

It was a wonder how Chiyuki had conveniently never ran into Itsuka before USJ, and suddenly, Chiyuki was seeing her everywhere. Toru was a little concerned as she followed Chiyuki down a separate pathway, ducking behind a bush with her as Itsuka passed with a few girls talking with her. Chiyuki peered over the bush, a look that could almost be called a pout on her lips.

"Why not talk to her?" Toru remarked as Chiyuki watched in what Toru decided was either jealousy or envy, "Clearly you want to."

"She's doing fine without me." Chiyuki replied evenly, kneeling back below the shrubbery.

Toru's uniform shifted and Chiyuki could tell Toru was giving her an attitude pose, "Chiyuki-chan, are you the type to avoid your problems?"

And when Chiyuki sputtered, Toru leaned closer, "Chiyuki-chan, you totally avoid your problems I can tell."

"It is..." Chiyuki admitted slowly, thinking of how even in death she still had managed to hold onto that terrible habit, "...definitely a problem that I have."

"Well the first step to getting over a problem is admitting there is a problem. Next, we make you talk to that girl, Kendo-san is her name?" Toru hummed, standing up and looking around, "She's gone, so I guess you'll be off the hook for now."

Chiyuki peered over the bush warily, and when she didn't see anyone, stood up to her full height. Eyeing the courtyard, Chiyuki let out a sigh, "You aren't wrong. In everything you've said. I want to talk to her, but she looks like she's doing fine and if I suddenly appear again..."

And Chiyuki thought of her redred eyes looking so much like the redred blood that Itsuka had been so scared of.

She closed her eyes, "We can talk about this another time, Toru-chan. It makes me sad, and we have sparring in a bit and I want to beat Bakugo into the dirt."

Toru shifted and laughed slightly nervously, "Today your match up is Bakugo? That is... definitely a match up."

.

Chiyuki and Bakugo sparring was not a good match up, as everyone had predicted. Aizawa glared at the two sitting in the infirmary, Chiyuki scowling about her singed clothes and Bakugo looking like he had been attacked by a paper cutter.

"The point of sparring is not to try and kill each other." Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose.

Chiyuki crossed her arms, "If I wanted him dead, that fight would have been the end of him."

"Bullshit," Bakugo growled and the tension between the two was nearly palpable, "You couldn't get near me without those swords-"

"An open wound is an invitation for my quirk." Chiyuki snapped in response, "If I were fighting seriously-"

Bakugo took offense to that, "Fight me seriously then, damn it! I could mess you up-"

Chiyuki glared at him, hissing, "I'd like to see you try."

Before the two started to brawl, Aizawa waved a hand to get their attention, " _As I said_ , the point of sparring is _not_ to kill each other. You are supposed to work together and learn. All Might likely put you two together because you two are the most aggressive hand to hand fighters and do not work well with others."

"I work perfectly well with others-" Chiyuki began, and Aizawa cut her off.

Looking unimpressed, Aizawa replied, "Last week you broke Iida's wrist, then sprained Hagakure's shoulder, and this week when allowed to practice your specialty, you cut Bakugo to pieces."

"He can take it." Chiyuki huffed, and then quieter with remorse in her eyes, "I didn't mean to hurt Iida-san or Toru-chan though. They were... slower than I expected."

"As of right now you two are both the best and worst pair up." Aizawa sighed, gesturing with his lesson book, "You directly counter each other. Bakugo you have a weakness in extreme close combat which Chiyuki-kun excels at. Chiyuki-kun you are weak in mid to longer ranges, which Bakugo's quirk forces most people to stay at."

Aizawa eyed the singes across Chiyuki's gym uniform, "At least, normal people would stay at. Chiyuki-kun, you've healed the majority of your own burns?"

"Burns are a newer injury for me," she admitted vaguely, "It takes more to heal them but it's good practice. Soon it'll be as mindless as scrapes and minor cuts."

"I fucking hate that." Bakugo snapped at her suddenly, and Chiyuki bristled as Bakugo continued, "You're so vague, like you're lying."

Chiyuki scoffed, "That's because I'm not a prideful showoff like you-"

Aizawa bopped her head with his book, and he ignored the glare that was shot at him and he continued lecturing, " _As I was saying_ , you are the best pair up by forcing each other to work with a difficult opponent, as well as being on similar skill levels. However your personalities clash so horribly it's nearly unbelievable how volatile the two of you are together."

"You're a prideful bitch." Bakugo, as if he had ignored Aizawa, said to Chiyuki, "You act like you don't care about anything."

Chiyuki curled her lips, unintentionally showing her sharp teeth, "At least I have friends. The way you go about, bullying and cursing and being rude, no one likes you."

"I don't need others. I'm here to be strong and be the number one hero." Bakugo replied confidently, and across from them Aizawa used his lesson book to hide his face and subsequently, his disbelief at how two of his top students could be reduced to this.

Chiyuki laughed, "With the way you act, I'd be surprised if they let you be a hero. You're suited to be a villain-"

Aizawa bopped Chiyuki on the head again, this time harder, scolding, "You didn't like when people called you a villain, did you?"

"This is different." Chiyuki insisted desperately.

Aizawa tilted his head, "Is it?"

Stubborn, Chiyuki nodded her head. Then she glared at Bakugo, who returned the glare. The tension still remaining in the room, Aizawa pinched his nose.

"I can see we aren't resolving this issue today. I'll inform All Might that it's best to not pair you two together. Please refrain from trying to kill each other otherwise." Aizawa murmured, then gestured for the both of them to leave, "Your major wounds were healed. As punishment, the rest of your injuries can heal naturally. Head back to class."

Aizawa watched the two go. They walked as far apart as possible, shooting each other glares and not talking to each other. When the door closed Aizawa didn't hear anyone trying to kill each other, so he relaxed his body and exhaled.

Recovery Girl pulled back the curtain she had disappeared behind many minutes before, and raised an eyebrow at Aizawa. Aizawa just nodded with an exasperated and grumpy expression.

"The two of them are like two alley cats." she remarked, looking towards the door.

Aizawa retrieved a snack pouch from his pack, "I'm hoping eventually they'll find something to agree on."

.

At the end of the day, Chiyuki, Gensuto, and Toru were walking out of the school as Chiyuki complained about Bakugo. Toru couldn't be read very easily, but Gensuto looked a little uncomfortable as he nodded along to Chiyuki's ill tempered rant.

When Chiyuki took a moment to breathe, Toru remarked to Gensuto, "It was a brutal fight. Everyone stopped practicing to watch and All Might-sensei had to step in."

"Yuki-chan has always been... aggressive," and when Gensuto saw Chiyuki open her mouth he interjected, "When we were children she slammed my face into a bento, tried to fight two bigger kids, threatened someone with scissors-"

"Susume fucking deserved it." Chiyuki sulked.

Gensuto kept going, "-Cut open her own arm, fought off a mugger-"

And Gensuto stopped when he saw Chiyuki tense. Chiyuki stopped walking, her hands tightening into fists. She was shaking, but no one could tell if it was from anger, fear, or something entirely different.

"Don't bring that up, Gensuto." Chiyuki said sharply, eyes haunted and not entirely focused, "You weren't there. You don't know what happened."

Gensuto frowned at the use of his full name, "You should talk about it. That was the last time you really spoke to Suka-chan, wasn't it-"

Chiyuki nodded, biting her bottom lip, "Yes. That was the beginning of the end."

Toru spoke up, "Is that why you don't want to speak to Kendo-san?"

Gensuto blinked in confusion, "How do you know Suka-chan? She's... is she here?"

Toru nodded, "Kendo Itsuka. She's in class 1-B."

"That is..." Gensuto sounded giddy as he processed that, "It's what we dreamed of when we were younger, isn't it, Yuki-chan? Becoming heroes together."

Chiyuki sighed, "That was over three years ago, Gen-kun."

Gensuto smiled softly, "We found each other. And if Suka-chan is here... I think it's a sign."

"I don't think I can face her." Chiyuki replied robotically, "I'm going to go home now. See you two tomorrow."

Frowning at Chiyuki as she walked away, Gensuto called, "The Yuki-chan I know doesn't run from things."

"Then you don't know her very well, because she avoids problems like a coward." Chiyuki called back over her shoulder, a tone of bitterness in her voice as she sped up and eventually turned out of view.

Toru sighed, "I don't want to be impolite, but can you tell me what happened? Chiyuki-chan has been avoiding Kendo-san rather extremely and I'm honestly curious."

"It's a long story that I don't know the complete details on," Gensuto admitted, then he smiled softly at Toru, "Do you want to stop at a cafe and I can tell you?"

"That sounds great-" Toru began to say, rather excited with a light tone, but she was cut off by an unfamiliar voice.

"Gen...Suto-kun?"

And when they turned, Kendo Itsuka stared at the two of them with surprise in her teal eyes.

.

It was a little awkward as the three sat down in a quaint little cafe. Itsuka shifted nervously as she eyed Toru's floating uniform, and then Gensuto.

Itsuka snorted after a moment, "I didn't think it was you at first. You're so... handsome now. Who would have thought?"

Chuckling under his breath at how similar her and Chiyuki's thoughts were, Gensuto replied, "Yeah, I know. My sister still can't believe how much I've changed either."

"Oh, how is your sister?" Itsuka inquired politely, and they fell into small talk with Toru mostly quiet. She introduced herself at one point, and Itsuka had questioned if she were Gensuto's girlfriend, to which both had been very embarrassed about and explained no, they were new friends.

Gensuto remarked on the good old days, and Itsuka sighed, eyes flickering to her arm brace briefly, "They were good times. I miss them."

"Have you seen Yuki... Chiyuki-chan?" Gensuto asked casually.

Itsuka blinked, then shook her head, an unreadable expression on her face, "Ah, um no. Have you?"

And before Gensuto could say anymore, Itsuka ran a hand through her ponytail and wistfully murmured, "Chiyuki, she was always something wasn't she? Sometimes when I look back, it doesn't feel like she was real."

"I know what you mean," Gensuto said softly, leaning his head on his hand as he reminisced, "She was always so smart and mature. She knew everything."

"Yeah." Itsuka nodded, shifting her arms, "I, I always looked up to her. I wanted to be like her. Strong. Smart. Unbeatable. Ah, but Chiyuki wasn't unbeatable." Itsuka's eyes unfocused for a moment, "Not really."

Gensuto frowned, "Suka-chan, do you mind me asking, what exactly happened, three years ago? I heard there was a mugger but..."

Itsuka froze, her eyes flickering to Gensuto's face and focusing, then she put a hand to the brace on her arm. Itsuka frowned, "Ah, you mean _that day_. Well, do you remember how we split off to walk home? Chiyuki and I, we were walking and then... everything fell apart."

Leaning back, Itsuka's eyes were minutely following something that only she was seeing, "I can still remember Chiyuki's expression. Someone grabbed me and Chiyuki she looked, she looked so scared, and can you remember a time Chiyuki was ever _scared_? I was hurt badly by the man who grabbed me, and Chiyuki, she fought him."

Taking a deep breath, Itsuka nodded to herself, grasping her arm brace tight as if to anchor herself, "She fought him. She ripped open his arm with her teeth, and used her quirk in that way she did... do you remember the spider? She did that, but her body just, just exploded. I still can't quite..."

"I still can't look at blood." Itsuka admitted with a choked tone, "I hate the color red. All I can remember is getting hurt, and watching Chiyuki get hurt, and Chiyuki fighting so desperately."

Gensuto eyed Itsuka's arm, "Do you blame Chiyuki?"

Toru held her breath as Itsuka closed her eyes. Then slowly she shook her head, "No. Chiyuki, she tried so desperately to save me. And it's not her fault she was born with... with that quirk."

"But you're clearly still affected by that." Gensuto pushed. Itsuka refused to make eye contact with him.

"I've tried to get over it but..." Itsuka held up her braced arm, "This arm never recovered. I can't fully bend it, and it can snap the wrong way if I'm not careful. I can use my quirk with it but whenever I do the arm needs to be reset. It feels like, if my mind can heal from it, my body will always remind me."

"I'm sorry, Suka-chan." Gensuto whispered, suddenly feeling like he was pushing a bit too much.

Itsuka nodded, "Me too."

She leaned back, some tension leaving her body, "If I ever see her again, well... I wonder where she is?"

Gensuto looked at Toru awkwardly. Gensuto really wished he could see Toru's face for some kind of assurance or confirmation or something. But Toru was just a uniform, and she didn't give off any body language to help him. Then he spoke up, "Um, Chiyuki, well, Yuki-chan, she goes to UA now too."

Itsuka froze, and she blinked at Gensuto with startling clarity in her eyes suddenly, "But... the school is so competitive and expensive. Chiyuki could never afford anything... unless, a scholarship?"

"The principals." Gensuto prompted helpfully.

"Honestly good for her," Itsuka said breathlessly, "Isn't this... isn't that what we dreamed of when we were kids?"

"We did." Gensuto said, "We wanted to become heroes together. And I'm in support, but still, we can still do it."

"Then, if Chiyuki, if she goes to UA, where is she?" Itsuka asked. Her hand that had started to wander from her brace was back, gripping onto the velcro straps like they were holding her together. Gensuto felt his social anxiety creep up from his stomach, and he felt like an elementary school student again. Itsuka was giving off clearly distressed body language, should he really keep going?

"Class 1-A." Toru answered when Gensuto was finally reduced to nervous mutters, and she shifted awkwardly when Itsuka stared at her, clearly only just remembering she was there, "We're classmates."

"Wow." Itsuka didn't look like she quite knew what to say, "Then... um, was she okay? With that incident at USJ?"

"She was hurt badly." Toru admitted easily, and trying to keep the conversation moving continued with, "But she is a very good fighter. She uses swords."

"Of course she does." Itsuka replied airily, "A cutting weapon. To draw blood."

Feeling out of place in this conversation and feeling bad for her curiosity, Toru asked, "You said... did she really rip open a mans arm with her teeth?"

"Like an animal." Itsuka replied immediately and bluntly, "It's an image I've never managed to get out of my head."

Gensuto laughed mirthlessly, having managed to reclaim whatever confidence he had found earlier, "She always was her own type of person. The first to help, but also the first to be brutal."

"I think her brother also desensitized her." Itsuka admitted, and Gensuto felt like Itsuka had just slapped him with that sudden comment, "He was super cool, but looking back, he looked like a shady individual."

"Chizome-san is a respectable man." Gensuto replied immediately and sharply. How could she say that? Especially about Chiyuki's precious older brother? Sure, Chizome looked exactly like someone you would expect to live on the worse-off side of town, but Chizome was a good person who cared deeply for his sister. Gensuto could still see that in Chizome even after meeting him again after a few years, and Gensuto's strong feelings showed in his sudden sharp gaze.

Itsuka balked, and shook her head in agreement, "Ah, sorry, you're absolutely right. He always was very nice. They just came from a bad neighborhood. I shouldn't judge them."

There was an awkward silence for a moment as Gensuto and Itsuka stared at each other. Itsuka was rather different now he was starting to realize. She was definitely still Itsuka, confident, bright and cheerful. But there was an underlying feeling of sadness and detachment in her eyes that had once been nothing but mirth and cheer. Being apart during middle school had changed all of them, and Gensuto was sure Itsuka was thinking the same.

Sure, Gensuto figured his change was more physical than anything. But he liked to think he had managed to get much better about his anxiety, as well as becoming a person who was capable of being something other than just a follower.

"Sorry," Itsuka said abruptly, standing up quickly with a smile that felt forced, "I think I should get going now. Um, another day we can talk again, Gen...Suto-kun."

"Yes that sounds great." Gensuto agreed, and Itsuka was gone just as quickly as she had suddenly appeared before them earlier.

Toru and Gensuto sat in silence for a few moments. Gensuto was taking in the information he had gathered, and Toru was imagining the Chiyuki she knew as a child, trying to tear someones arm off.

"That was something." Toru finally chirped.

Gensuto dropped his head on the table with a resonating bang and responded with a groan.

.

Chiyuki had five contacts in her phone. Chizome, their house phone, Chizome's workplace, Gensuto (newly acquired), and Kasagiri for work purposes. But Chiyuki had written down her number for Toru one morning when the girl had witnessed Chiyuki message her brother something and had demanded her number. Chiyuki was getting off the train when her phone rang, some time after she had run away from Gensuto and Toru. She ignored it, and it stopped for about ten seconds, before it started ringing again. Chiyuki picked up when the phone rang a third time.

"Can I help you?" she asked briskly into the phone.

"Chiyuki-chan," Toru's bubbly voice called, "You won't believe what just happened."

"Oh Toru-chan." Chiyuki hummed, "I thought you were one of those telemarketers. A third call is rather persistent."

"I only called twice. Your cell was busy the first time I tried." Toru snickered and Chiyuki couldn't tell if Toru was being serious, "But that's not the thing that just happened that I want you to believe."

Popping her earphones into her phone, Chiyuki set out to start adding Toru as her sixth contact while she descended the train station steps.

Toru took a moment to steady her voice, "Listen, after you left, Gensuto-san and I ran into Kendo-san."

Chiyuki almost dropped her phone. Her face was frozen in the half smile it had gotten when Toru had called, and Chiyuki asked, "You what."

"We ended up speaking with her for awhile. She seems interested in talking with you, you know." Toru mentioned.

Chiyuki exhaled, and she remembered to keep walking when someone checked her shoulder trying to skirt past her on the stairs, "She... knows I'm at UA?"

"Yeah, and she knows you're in 1-A too."

Sighing, Chiyuki said, "I... I suppose I should talk to her, one of these days."

"I think that would be best." Toru agreed somberly, but then she brightened up, "Hey, so I heard that you tried to rip a guys arm off with your teeth."

"That's not... exactly it." Chiyuki hesitated, lowering her voice, "I... It was a special circumstance. I didn't intend to... I don't really want to talk about this, Toru-chan. Goodbye."

"Wait, Chiyu-"

And Chiyuki hung up. And put her phone on silent when it started to ring again. Chiyuki walked home feeling exhausted, and she considered calling Kasagiri to take the day. But instead she dropped her things, grabbed her work clothes, and trudged to the cafe. Chiyuki wasn't working out front yet but Kasagiri had taken her measurements to get her a uniform for serving. The cafe was a themed cafe on weekends and Fridays only, and Kasagiri decided Chiyuki would only serve twice a week and work with Juzou in the back the rest of her shifts.

Her shift went well with Juzou cheering her up somewhat. Chiyuki went home, did her homework, and snuggled into bed as Chizome ruffled her hair and left to do his nightly business. As she laid there in bed, thoughts swirling in her head, Chiyuki frowned. She rolled over, smooshing her face into her soft blanket.

Her avoidance problem was probably an issue she should work on.

But it was just so much easier to feign ignorance and turn away, run away, and pretend that everything was fine. If she pretended hard enough, then things would be okay.

.

The next morning as she arrived early to school, Chiyuki felt the hairs raise on her arms as a voice rang out.

"Shiro-chan?"

And as she turned, trying to force the horror off her face, Chiyuki caught sight of Itsuka's teal eyes staring at her passively.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hello! This was supposed to be up way earlier, but at least I made December! Look forward to an interlude in chapter 15, and some Drama next chapter!**

 **Is anyone watching the new anime season? I'm still behind in Season 3 so I might try catching up before my break ends.**

 **Anyway, Chiyuki's going to start learning to stop avoiding things soon. She doesn't really get a choice though. :)**

 **Fun Fact: The hardest part about writing chapters ahead, is when I go back to fix something I have to figure out what happened when. For example, I couldn't remember in a future chapter if Toru had called Chiyuki out on her avoidance issue (Which she did this chapter), nor could I remember if Gensuto had said anything. As the story gets longer it becomes more difficult for me to discern if something I'm referencing is actually in there, or if it was something I cut/thought of after the fact. I try my best to keep things consistent though!**

 **I love how enthusiastic everyone is about Chiyuki's quirk and fighting style! I love reading the theories and suggestions, it really makes my day!**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **mothedman  
Guest  
Foxxired  
abciluvpie  
588963-B  
blazerforce  
xenocanaan**


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